Chips and Voices
by the12thcookie
Summary: Max doesn't think much of the chip in her arm, but when powers and things taken for granted began to disappear, she realizes there's a lot more to it. Plus, she just might not be the only one being controlled. Action, and Fax.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! My first fan fiction ever, so please review and let me know how I'm doing :) I thought this was long because on word it's 5 pages but it's kind of short here so I'll try and make the rest of them longer. Enjoy!**

"Awwwh, Gazzy." Nudge said, while the rest of us plugged our noses. Well, we tried our best to, in any case. It's just a tad hard when you know, you're flying across Missouri and thinking about a million other things.

"Sorry!" Gazzy said, looking properly abashed but still like the cute, crafty 8 year old he was. I smiled ruefully at him. Let's just say that he definitely ensured that his nickname (the Gasman) stayed in place.

We flew back into formation and caught a warm updrift, which let us coast for a full minute. My hair flowing behind me, feeling the wind whoosh past my face; I could have stayed like that forever.

Maybe I should fill you in a bit. Well, my name's Maximum Ride, but everyone calls me Max. I was an avian-human hybrid, with bird DNA in me. It was pretty cool, especially because, well, we could fly, and had all these abilities. Mine was super speed warp drive, and every one of us had our own awesome gifts.

Anyway, that was the cool part. The uncool part was that we were captured and stuck in labs for the first 10 years of my life. There was me, Fang, and Iggy; we were all 14. Nudge was 11, Gazzy was 8, and my sweet little Angel was 6. We were a flock, my flock, my family. We all had escaped the School a few years ago. The lab testing bad Itex one, not the regular kind with teachers and homework. Anyhow, they were out to get us, to reclaim their test subjects.

And to do their dirty work, the whitecoats had created more mutants- but this time, it was a wolf/human crossbreed. Recently, they had been grafted wings, so they could fly too. They are hunting us, always, and most of our lives are spent in trying to escape them.

Oh, and also, I have a voice in my head. Apparently, I'm supposed to save the world. Yippee.

Enough about that, though. We had just escaped DC, and were on our way to Arizona. Why? Because one of my best friends, not counting the flock (actually, my only friend not counting the flock) and her mom lived in Arizona.

Two days ago, her mom called me:

_Max, honey?_

Hey, Ms. Martinez.

_You know how last time you came, we found that chip in your forearm? And I said it would be impossible to take it out without possibly losing function of your whole arm?_

Yeah, what about it?

_Well, I've been studying your x-ray, and I might…I might have found a way to remove it, without causing any damage._

Oh my god really? That's great! We'll come to Arizona. Can you get it out, please?

_Max, it's still a bit risky, and I don't know if-_

Please, PLEASE Ms. Martinez! I don't care about the risks; I HAVE to get it out!

_Alright, honey. Come on over. And don't kill yourself on the way here! It'll take me at least 4 days to set up the lab to do the procedure anyway._

And now we were slowly on our way to Arizona, taking our time because for once in our lives, we had some.

"Max?" Nudge began, "I'm hungry."

Figures. "Um, okay Nudge. How about we find a place to camp out and then you and I can make a run to the nearest store?"

"Okay!" she chirped happily. I started really looking at my flock and realized that Nudge, Gazzy and Angel were looking pretty tired. We had been flying for almost 3 hours, I just hadn't noticed, I guess. Iggy looked okay, but I could tell by his posture that while he could keep going, he wanted to stop.

Fang looked absolutely fine, and I'm sure that if it was just me and him, we could have kept going for another two or three hours and been fine.

But it wasn't just me and him, I realized guiltily. Whoops. And then I made an executive decision.

"Alright people, let's stop for today. Let's land in that clearing at 1 o'clock."

One by one the flock swooshed down in a graceful arc, one of the many tricks we had picked up from the hawks. We set up camp and Angel fell asleep in Iggy's arms almost immediately. I was starving, and wanted to go to the store. Nudge looked really tired, though, but I didn't want to go alone.

Ah, whatever. Call it a sacrifice.

"I'm going to find a grocery store. Fang, take first watch." I ordered, and jumped up to fly. A hand grazed my shoulder, and I turned to see Fang.

"I'll come with." He said. "Iggy?" He looked towards the blond pyromaniac, who nodded and said "I'll take first watch, no problem."

I shrugged in agreement and we took off into the night sky, Fang so close to me our wing tips brushed with every beat.

"So." Fang said. I looked towards him, surprised he was talking.

"Yeah?"

"You holding up okay?" He asked. Me? He was concerned about me?

"Of course." I replied, confused. He didn't offer any clarification, though, and we just drifted back into a comfortable silence.

A couple minutes later, I spotted a random little gas station. "There? I asked Fang, pointing.

He began to coast downwards in response, and I followed suit. We walked into the store and grabbed 12 cooked turkey legs and 2 gallons of milk. When we got to the counter, and I reached for my credit card, it wasn't there. I pulled a confused Fang back into the aisles.

"Crap. I don't have my credit card." I whispered urgently.

Understanding dawned on Fang's face. "Iggy nicked it this morning to buy candy when we stopped at that Walmart." he said.

I scowled. "Thanks for telling me, bud. Whatever. I got this." I walked up to the male cashier who looked me up and down. Ew, the sexist pig.

But wait, I could use that. "Hi…" I said, twirling a strand of hair around my finger and trying for my best sexy face.

"Uh, how may I help you?" The poor guy looked flustered.

"I uh, forgot my credit card." I said, "And I really need this food like, right now. Is there anything you can about that." I bit my lip and batted my eyelashes. Argh, I felt so stupid.

"Well, uh, if you give me your address the store can deliver a bill later?" He said, looking totally lost.

"Perfect! Thanks." I said. The cashier grabbed a piece of paper and looked to me, waiting for my address. And then it hit me. I didn't actually know Ella's house address. Up until then, I had been planning to pay for my dinner. There was a couple moments of awkward silence before Fang stepped in.

"238 Peltry Road, Loral, Missouri." He said, glaring at the cashier.

I managed a weak laugh. "Oh that's it. We're staying with our uncle and I always forget the address."

The cashier looked between me and Fang and asked "Uncle, is it? So you guys are brother and sister?"

I knew he was comparing my fair skin and dirty blond hair to Fang's toned olive skin and dark hair. I had no clue what to say, but Fang stepped in again and answered for me.

"No." He said coldly. Gosh, I'd hate to be on the receiving end of Fang's anger. "It's her uncle, not mine."

The clerk sighed. "Okay, whatever. Just take your stuff and get out, people."

I practically ran out of the store, ready to get back to the flock.

"Thanks." I told Fang. "I was losing myself in all those lies. Whose address was that, anyway?"

He looked at me, his dark eyes unreadable. I could see his jaw tense, though.

"Quite the charmer." Fang said, completely ignoring my previous statement.

I searched his face for clues as to what he meant. Nothing. Before I could respond though, another voice did for me.

"I completely agree. Good show, Max." A throaty, deep voice laughed behind me. Fang and I whirled around.

Ari.


	2. Chapter 2

Ari.

As pathetic as it may sound, I was actually kind of relieved that he showed up, just because fighting him and his crap band of erasers was more on my level. I mean, my best friend's acting weird and I'm totally off base, with no idea what to say or do, but a couple Erasers to fight? No problem. Instinct takes over.

I send a kick at his stomach but he expects it and blocks it, retaliating with a punch to my calf. I elbow him in the gut, punch him in the nose and stomp on his foot, which sends him stumbling back. In the meantime, I could see Fang in my peripheral vision fighting off three Erasers on his own.

I made a split second decision and ran over to him, socked an Eraser straight in the face and kicked the other's throat. Fang shoved the third off him and said "Thanks." I nodded in acknowledgment. Then I saw his eyes widen and his mouth open to yell, but even before he could I whirled around and punched without looking.

Looking down, I see that it was a good idea, because Ari, recovered from my earlier attack, was creeping up on me. Before he even understood what was happening, I cocked my fist and slammed it into his eye as hard as I could.

I could move pretty fast when I wanted to.

He tried to use the energy from my punch to launch a spinning kick at me, and it would have caught me right in the neck if he had succeeded. Instead, I grabbed his foot and yanked hard, causing him to fall face first into the dirt.

I then kicked the spot between Ari's wings really hard, which had to have hurt, even if he didn't make a sound. I leaned down close to his ear and whispered "Sucks to suck, dog boy."

He made a grunt in protest but I could see that the fight had taken a lot out of him, especially because, hmm, what was it? Oh yeah, that huge pool of blood in the dirt around him. Heheh. I was proud of myself.

"Up and away?" Fang asked me.

I nodded and said, "On the count of three" Which really meant on the count of one. We flew off into the night sky, evading the Erasers one more time.

Once we were up in the air, I punched my fist and said "YES! That felt great!" I was grinning ear to ear.

Fang gave me his traditional half smirk, which really meant he was grinning ear to ear too. "That was pretty awesome," he agreed, "Good job out there."

After several minutes of comfortable silence I spotted a lake under us and pointed. "I need to wash off." I told him. He nodded and we swooped down to the banks of the water. After we drank our fill and rinsed off, I hugged Fang on an impulse. He stood stiffly in my arms for a moment, but eventually his arms hesitantly came around me.

When I let go of him, my hands had a smudge of blood on them. "That's weird," I wrinkled my nose. "I just washed my hands. Guess I missed a spot." I started to plunge my hands into the refreshingly cold water when it dawned on me.

I spun to face Fang again. "Where are you hurt?" I asked, in my no-nonsense tone, motherly instinct kicking in.

"It's not a big deal" He muttered, looking at the ground. I studied him carefully, but I couldn't see anything that might have tipped me off as to what was wrong.

"Where. Are. You hurt." I repeated. Fang knew better than to argue with me, so he sighed and lifted his black shirt.

Ouch. I gave a low whistle. "Dang, how'd you hide that one?" He had a nasty gash cutting from the top of his abdomen down diagonally across to his waist. Before I got there to help him, one of those Erasers must have swiped him. Apparently, they hadn't missed.

He gave me his signature smirk. "Blood doesn't show on black shirts."

"Sit." I gestured to a large rock near the water. I used my jacket as a little pouch to carry water over to him, and I washed his wound out carefully. Upon inspection, it was even worse than I thought it was. It was thin, but long and deep. The bad part was that it hadn't been cleaned right away, so I could see the dirt and grime in his cut. And with our advanced healing systems, the wound was closing up already, and I couldn't get any of it out.

"You should have told me right away, Fang. I'm going to have to re cut it open." I told him, inwardly wincing at the thought. _Stay Strong!_ I told myself furiously. I had to. For Fang.

He nodded, and he didn't look scared. It was only because I knew him so well that I recognized that seemingly nonchalant clenching of his hand to be much more; to be bracing himself for something he didn't want either.

I grabbed a knife from my pack. "Just do it?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He said, and then he slipped his hand into my left one. I was surprised, but tried not to show it.

Gulping, I shoved the nice as gently as I could into the start of his cut. He didn't make a sound, and his face remained as stone as it always was, but his hand clenched mine so tight I could feel it cutting off my circulation. I felt horrible, but it had to be done. Biting my lip, I just ran the knife through the rest of the cut quickly. I saw the muscles in his jaw tighten, but he still didn't open his mouth. I quickly started cleaning the wound (one handed, my other hand was still in his) and patching it up as best I could.

"Better?" I asked when I was finished. He nodded. "Hey, let's just stay here. I don't think you should be flying right now, and we're close enough to them." I said. The fact that he nodded again worried me. He had to have been feeling like total crap if he didn't even protest that we should go back.

We cleared a space for us to sleep, and Fang was out in a matter of seconds, which was totally out of character for him. I debated between my options. One, I could keep watch and stay right here. Two, I could fly back to Iggy and at least tell him what happened, give him the groceries, and come back.

I looked at Fang, who was peacefully sleeping. _If I use super speed to let Iggy know, I won't even be gone for a full 10 minutes. He'll be okay._ I reasoned, and took off into the still air. Normally, when I fly, I feel the air around me, feel my hair streaking behind me, and I love that feeling. It's quite powerful. But right now, my mind was on Fang as I streaked through towards the clearing we had stopped at. I saw a guarding Iggy much before he heard me.

As I landed, though, he stood up and said, "Max? Fang?"

"Hey, Iggs." I said. "Listen, we were ambushed by Erasers. We got out of it okay but Fang got scratched nastily and he's asleep over there somewhere, about 5 or 6 miles thataway. I'm going to back and keep watch while he sleeps, I just wanted to let you know so that you wouldn't be worried about us. Wake Nudge up in a little and she can take second watch. Oh, and here's the food."

I put the bag into his hands, and he said "Alright, sounds good. We'll stay right here until you come to us tomorrow morning."

"Sound's like a plan, Iggy. I'm going to head back now." He nodded, and I took off once more.

Being paranoid like I am, I raced back to where I had left Fang. We hadn't gotten far from where the Erasers had attacked us, and I didn't want to risk being found again. I mean, I was okay but if Ari had brought reinforcements, I was screwed, even if Fang could help.

When I finally arrived, I saw Fang sleeping just as well as he was earlier; he hadn't moved. Sighing in relief, I leaned over him and checked his wound. It was a lot better already, which I was glad of. I took the moment to really look at Fang, since I never could when he was awake. He looked years younger when he was asleep. He had goosebumps, so I grabbed him a blanket from my pack and threw it over him. I smoothed his hair from his face and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead. I had to suppress a sudden urge to kiss his lips.

Whoa, where did that come from? Fang was my brother, my best friend, my right wing man.

I moved away before I did something I regretted and leaned against a rock.

And I slowly waited for the morning to come.

…

**Fang's POV:**

The past few hours blurred together in my mind, flashes of memory in my brain.

Max flirting with that sales clerk.

Max taking down Ari so harshly and still looking powerful and graceful as she did it.

Max hugging me in front of the lake; Max as she glared at me to 'fess up what was wrong.

Max cleaning my wound and Max holding my hand as she cut it open again. God, it hurt. I could see it in her face that she really didn't want to cut me again; didn't want to hurt me anymore than she had to.

And finally I didn't understand something.

I didn't know why I was so mad at Max for flirting with cashier; why I wanted to punch the lights out of that despicable guy.

I didn't know why I slipped my hand into hers.

I don't know why I liked that hug so much.

I didn't know why it felt so good when she kissed my forehead, just know. It was so motherly, so…so Max.

I didn't want to know.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, guys! :) How's the story? Don't forget to review, please! I meant to ask this last time, but was that fight scene okay? I've never written one before so I had to borrow some of the moves and such from the 3****rd**** book. Also, I never really had a place in mind this story, but it can really go anywhere during or between the 2****nd**** and 3****rd**** books. Oh, and that song is some old poem that I kind of added lines too. It's not actually a song, so you're not going to find it. Well, here we go!**

**Fang's POV:**

I woke up and saw the sun rising in the distance, with the sky still pale gray except for a small area around the horizon, which was a pastel orange. Max was sitting with her back to me, and I assumed she was on watch. I felt my stomach. My cut had almost healed; it had gone from a deep scar to a faint pink welt. In a couple more hours, it would fade into a scar.

"Good morning." I said, as I got up and sat next to Max.

"Hey," she said tiredly. "How do you feel?"

"Fine." I responded, guiltily realizing that she must have stayed up all night because she never woke me to take over watch.

"That's good." Max said, "When you were asleep last night, I flew over to the flock. I told Iggy what was going on so he wouldn't worry and gave him the groceries. If you're ready to go, they're waiting for us right now. "

"I'm good to go. You sure you're okay?" I didn't want her to be tired all day. Who knew what would happen?

She almost smiled at me, and shrugged. "Let's go." She said, getting up and snapping her wings out in one fluid motion. She took off and hovered in the air, waiting for me. I rose to meet her and we flew in silence. I don't know what she was thinking, but I was thinking about her.

Did I imagine last night? Did she really kiss my forehead, or was I so desperate as to make it up? Was it even such a big deal? It was just a kiss on the forehead, for god's sake. Even if she had done it, she was probably just checking for a fever or something.

No, it did matter.

It mattered to me. I wish I could ask her. But that would be just a tad awkward, don't you think?

I guess I'd have to figure it out on my own.

I hadn't realized we had arrived till I looked to my side and noticed Max wasn't right there. She was 20 feet further down, and I wondered what was wrong before I understood that she was just diving towards the Flock.

I flew down too, arriving just a couple seconds after her.

"Hey man" Iggy called. "Feeling okay?" He smirked at me.

"Fine." I responded, my face like stone. Not that I had anything against him, I just had a reputation to uphold. I couldn't let them think I was getting soft. Plus, there was just a little something in his voice that was teasing me for getting hurt when Max was fine. Ugh, if Max knew, she would be all over him about what a sexist pig he was, but she obviously didn't pick up.

"Max!" Angel's face lit up as she ran over and gave Max a hug.

"Hey sweetie" Max hugged her tight. Nudge and Gazzy were just getting up too.

Predictably, Nudge's first words were "I'm hungry."

Max smiled. "I brought you food last night, but y'all were out."

Nudge smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry I didn't go with you."

"It's fine. It's probably better I went with Fang anyway."

Nudge looked confused. "Wait, why?"

"So they could make out in the dark without us snooping." Iggy interjected. Max slapped him upside the head, laughing, but I just glared at him. It hit a little too close to home for me to make fun of it.

"Shut it, Iggy. And Nudge, we were attacked by Erasers yesterday, that's why." I replied stiffly.

Nudge's mouth rounded in an O. "What's for breakfast?" She asked, her stomach growling.

Max laughed, naturally flipping her hair when answered. God, she was beautiful.

Whoa. Why am I thinking that? Max…max is my sister. I'd follow her to the end of the world. There were lines drawn and the one time I'd crossed it, she'd pushed me away and things were awkward for days. I wasn't going to do it again.

"Fang?" the Gasman's voice interrupted. Looking up, I saw everybody looking at. Max's eyebrows were knit.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Did you want some chow?" he asked me.

"Yeah." Everyone else turned away, but Max was still looking at me. She raised an eyebrow at me. I mouthed 'Later' at her, and she turned away too, satisfied.

Yeah, later. When I found an excuse that was believable.

…..

**Max's POV:**

I busied myself with tending the fire, adding twigs as necessary while everyone else ate.

"Here, I'll do that, Max. Get some food." the Gasman offered. He was such a sweet little kid. I ruffled his hair.

"Thanks, little man." I said, and went over to grab some breakfast. I inhaled the two turkey legs so fast that it would probably make any regular human sick. Yeah, any regular human who didn't need 4000 calories a day and who had actually slept in the past 36 hours would be sick. I was so lucky to not be that regular human, right? (Note sarcasm.)

"So what's the plan?" Nudge asked. Fang and Iggy looked up at me too, waiting for an answer.

"We need to scram, and fast. We ran into Erasers already and if we assume that they'll know where we're headed, they'll be waiting to ambush us in the route we were planning to take. We're in Missouri, and they'll expect us to go through Kansas and New Mexico. And they'll expect Texas. So we're going up and then to Arizona. We're going to Colorado, folks." I said. It was a pretty good plan, if I do say so myself. Especially considering that I hadn't had one when they'd ask, and I'd just made it up as I went along.

Gazzy let out a whoop.

"Can we see the Rocky Mountains, Max?" Nudge began. "I've heard they're soooooo beautiful, and have I ever seen snow because it should be snowy up there, I don't think I've even seen any because I would remember if I had unless I was like, really little but we didn't break out of the school until I was 9 and I pretty much remember everything after that so no I haven't seen snow and it's supposed to be really pretty but really cold do you think we'll get cold up there? We should go shopping we could buy a new set of clothes like puffy jackets and stuff because I'm sure it'll-"

"NUDGE." Iggy interrupted.

She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

I rubbed my temples. "Yes, we can stop in the mountains, we'll be flying over them, no you haven't seen snow and we can't really afford a whole new set of clothes but yes, we can buy a jacket for each of us." I responded. I think I'd covered everything.

"Alright, you guy's ready? U and A. Let's go." We rose up into the air in a smooth sweep, flying in almost a v formation. _Like geese_, I thought to myself, and smiled. Fang noticed and raised an eyebrow at me. I shook my head. He looked away.

Flying was the most amazing feeling in the world. When I flew, all my problems seemed to stay on the ground. It was like I was a new person in the air, serene, and calm. The air felt like one of the safest places for us, even with the flying erasers. No matter where I was on the ground, I was limited by my surroundings, by the people and things around me. In the air, I didn't have that. In the air, I was free.

A song popped into my head. I had heard it many years ago, I don't even remember when. But it really fit the mood I was in.

_**I've tasted of the Kingdom coming  
>It was sweet upon my lips<br>Sweet upon my lips  
>Though not yet in it's fullness<br>One day soon  
>It will take all tears away<br>Take all tears away**_

_**One day I will rise on the winds of heaven  
>With Your glory in my eyes<br>One day I will rise with the wings of an eagle  
>Doing circles in the sky<br>And I'll be free to fly and sure to fall  
>Into Your Arms<strong>_

_**Into Your Arms, I'll be falling slowly**_

_**Losing myself in your eyes**_

_**And I'll be free to fly**_

_**As far as I want,**_

_**As far as I need to**_

_**And I'll be free to soar**_

_**Into the air, into clouds I want more**_

_**One day I will climb right into the sky**_

_**Flying with the wings of an eagle**_

_**Doing circles in the sky  
>and I'll be free to fly and sure to fall<br>Into Your Arms**_

_****_I was surprised at myself for remembering the words, actually. The melody of the song swirled through my head, soothing and comforting.

And in the distance, using my raptor vision, I saw a huge speck of flying Erasers coming straight for us.

Ironic.

"Down, into the trees." I ordered, and my flock followed with no question. It would be harder for those clumsy oafs to navigate through the trees.

"We can't fight." Fang said. "Too many." And what sucked (no, not that he still wasn't using complete sentences) was that he was absolutely right. They must have been Flyboys, because there looked to be over 200 of them. Oh, wait, that was Ari in the front. Great, just what we needed. Flyboys and regular rip-your-throat-out Erasers.

"Okay." I said. "Fang, Nudge, grab Iggy, Angel, and Gazzy and fly as far north as you can. I'll distract them and if worst comes to worst, I can always escape with my warp drive speed thing. Kay?" We stacked and tapped really fast but then Fang stopped.

"No." Fang said. I sighed loudly. Now was not the time for arguments. They were almost on us! "No, Max. Iggy and Nudge will grab Gazzy and Angel, and you and I can distract"

"Iggy's blind." I said bluntly. It would hurt Iggy's feelings but that could be fixed later. He was a big boy. He knew what I meant.

"He'll hear Nudge. There's no way I'm leaving you with 200 things attacking." Fang retorted.

Really, it was not the time to be arguing.

"Fine, whatever. Get out of here, guys!" I yelled, and they obediently took off, except for Iggy, who paused and threw something into my hand. Then he stuck his tongue out at me and flew away too.

"You suck." I told Fang, and he smirked at me.

And then we launched ourselves at the Erasers.

I looked down at me hands. Explosives. Awesome. I grinned at Fang, and we chucked the small bombs into the midst of the swarm coming at us. Each bomb blew up 20 or so Flyboys and we learned something important.

Only the front row was real Erasers. Everything else was highly flammable.

Years of hanging out with pyromaniacs like Iggy and Gazzy rubbed off on me, I guess, because I was throwing those bombs with a ton of precision. Better than Fang, actually, but he won't ever admit that.

A split second later, and not a moment too soon, more than half the flyboys exploded, leaving us with only 70 or so more enemies to face.

Fang and I swooped deep into the crowd and punched and kicked and hit at random. But there was too many of them. For each of the Flyboys we disembodied, two more popped up to take there place.

We were surrounded, and we done for. But I sure heck was going to go down fighting, so I didn't give up. In the back of my mind, a tiny voice nagged me (my own voice, not the Voice.) _Where are the Erasers? _All around were Flyboys, and Ari wasn't the type to run away when we blew up half his gang.

A breathless few minutes, a thousand well placed punches, kicks and jabs later, we were alone in the sky.

"Yes!" I yelled, and gave Fang a high-five. That's what I'm talking about. We were undefeatable. I almost did a little jig in the air but controlled myself, because Fang would never let me live it down.

And then I remembered. Erasers. The smile fell off my face.

"Erasers?" I asked Fang. He shrugged; he hadn't seen them either.

"Right here, Max." Ari said from behind. Fang and swerved around but we were too late. Two pairs of furry claws grabbed my waist and legs. I felt a sharp jab in between my wings that made me want to scream it hurt so much, but I held it in. I would not give him the satisfaction.

I elbowed the Eraser to my right and batted the other one with my wing, which made loosen their holds on me just enough that I turned around and socked both of them in the gut. They fell a few feet, but even before I could move, two more Erasers took their place.

"Give up, Maximum." Ari said. "You're out of luck."

And he was right.

Fang and I were bruised, battered, and caught off guard, whereas the Erasers were fresh, rested, and hungry for our blood. I spat at Ari, but he dodged it easily. He frowned, stepped forward and raked one furry claw across my face. I felt the blood drip out of the cut he had just given me, but I refused to acknowledge it.

_Pain is just a message._ I told myself.

Next to me, Fang wasn't having any luck either. I saw an Eraser grin and kick him in the stomach. To them, it looked like he didn't react, but I knew him well enough to know that that clench of the jaw he had just done meant he was ready to double over.

I glared at Ari, and he smiled at me, all toothy and disgusting. Ugh, heard of toothpaste, anyone?

Fang and I were marched down to a private jet, and tossed in the cargo section. Of course, Ari had us tied up and gagged first.

An eraser came in and tossed us some food. "Sleep tight, little birdies." he grinned evilly. "We won't eat you till next morning."

I glared at him, but it didn't have any effect. Fang's cold stare, however, was enough to make him hurriedly leave the room, as if we weren't restrained and gagged.

Oh boy. This was fun.

…

**Hope you likey. :) For all of you who are getting impatient with the no Faxness stuff, rest assured, because it is coming. Review and Message! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Fang's POV:**

Max crawled over to me. Even though her hands we bound together, she managed to use just her fingers to pull the duct tape off of my mouth.

"Ow." I said, rubbing my mouth. She pointed to herself with both her hands. It looked kind of funny, but I figured she'd get mad at me if I made a joke. I did the same to her, and I tried to be gentle about it. (Unlike a certain somebody else. Let's not mention any names, now.)

"Hey, untie me," Were the first words out of Max's mouth. I almost smiled. Typical her, always bossing everyone around. I clawed at the knot binding her hands together, trying to grip it enough to pull it off. But I couldn't.

"It's not going to work." I told her. She raised an eyebrow at me. Using her teeth, she slipped the rope on her hand as far down as it would go, so far I could see it pinching her and probably cutting off circulation. Then, swiftly and with ease, she untied the knot fastening my hand together, and slipped the rope off.

"And that," she began triumphantly, "Is how it's done." She smiled sweetly at me, which somehow was worse than a smirk, as far as insults go.

With my hands loose, I had no problem undoing her knot, and soon we both were rubbing the circulation back into our hands and feet.

"Will you do my wings?" She asked. I nodded, and she took her sweatshirt off and underneath was a pale blue tank top. I took a scooted closer to her on the floor to untie her wings and suddenly realized that she was practically in my lap we were sitting so close. And man, she smelled really good. How did she do that? God knows when we last showered. I just wanted to bury my head into her matted, messy hair and smell her neck.

Oh my god. I was mortified. What was wrong with me?

"Fang?" her voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Sorry." I said, and I quickly undid Max's wings. She stretched them out a bit and smiled.

"Oh, that's a relief. Here, I'll do yours." I turned and unlike me, she took no time in pulling the cord off my wings. I practically jumped away from her as soon she finished. Being close to her messed up my mind. She looked at me weirdly, giving me a _your-being-really-weird-is-something-up _look, seeming half confused and half concerned.

I pretended I didn't see it and suddenly decided that my sneakers (black, duh!) were really interesting.

Max kicked the wall of the plane really hard. "ARGH!" she yelled. "We can all fly, you dumbnuts! Isn't a plane sort of redundant?"

We heard muffled laughter through the walls. I guess that's where the actual seating part of the plane was.

"And risk us escaping? I don't think so." I said to Max.

She glared at me. "Well, duh. I wasn't looking for logical reasoning, thank you very much." She snapped. It was kind of character for her to be so mean, but I guess she was frustrated and tired and mad and I probably wasn't helping. So, yeah, I deserved that one.

I raised my hands up. "Hey, chill. You should go to bed. I'll wake you if anything happens."

She was still glaring at me.

"Really. You didn't get any sleep last night. Take a nap." I still felt bad about the whole making her stay up all night to watch me thing.

All the fight went out of her, and I saw the tiredness from the past couple days sink into her form.

"Yeah, okay. Be sure to wake me up." She said, and then she curled up on her side and was out in a matter of minutes.

…

I guess I dozed off too because one minute I was staring at Max, and the next I was being shaken awake.

"Hey, get up." It was a familiar voice. "Faaaaang. Get up!" Oh. It was Max's voice.

"I'm up, I'm up." I muttered, opening my eyes and sitting up.

"Finally!" Max said teasingly. "Here, we need to tie our ropes back on so they don't get suspicious."

We bound ourselves up again, tying as loose as possible so we could escape in a flash if we needed too.

"Fang?" Max asked hesitantly.

"Yeah,"

"About last night, by the lake, I just wanted to-"

Ari burst through the door. Oh my god, he had the worst timing.

"Let's go little birdies!" he cooed. "Here girl, here." He patted his knees and whistled at Max.

She stood up and pushed past him roughly. "I am not a dog." She said, her voice so chilling and cold and different from before it was practically scary.

He grinned at her again. "Well of course not, Max, you're a bird. At least get your animals right. Here, let me clarify. You're a bird. Little Goth boy here is a bird. Clear?"

She snapped him a salute. "Crystal!" She practically barked. "And wait, lemme guess, you're the mutt."

That's my girl. The grin fell off Ari's face but he had nothing to say back to Max. I struggled to keep the smile off my face.

Ari growled at us and snapped his fingers. Immediately, two Erasers jumped forward and marched us out the jet, and into a huge building. It wasn't the school, I don't think. Unless it was a back entrance or something. But regardless of where we were, we were put in: (wait, all together now)

Cages.

Cage, actually, because Max and I were both dumped into the same tiny little box. I gritted my teeth. It was horrible, the feeling of claustrophobia. It brought back so many memories, things I didn't want to remember.

Ari smiled at us from outside of the bars.

"Well, relax for tonight, freaks. They'll start testing tomorrow." He kicked our cage, causing it to fall back. Max and I were violently thrown together.

"Ow." I muttered under my breathe.

"Ow is right." Max agreed. "You jerk! That was uncalled for." She yelled down the hall.

"I don't need a reason to mess with you, Max!" Ari laugh echoed through the tiny area.

Max sighed and leaned against one of the walls. I was still standing.

"I'm so done with all of this, Fang. I'm fed up with it." She kicked a loose rock on the ground.

"I know. Me too. We have to stay strong, though. For all the little ones." I replied.

"I know, it's just…it's just" she broke off, looking for the right word.

"Frustrating? Annoying? Tiring?" I offered.

She smiled. "Well, yeah, but mostly it seems so hopeless."

Whoa. Was this still my Max? The one who pushed everyone until they collapsed, the one who never gave up, the one who was a constant pillar of determination, no matter how down everyone else felt?

"This is more than about just getting captured." I guessed. She nodded. "What's wrong, Max?"

"I don't know, Fang. That's what scares me. I don't even know why I'm so…so tired all of sudden." I knew she meant it metaphorically, not that she was actually tired.

"And, it's confusing. I mean, there's Angel, and she used to be the sweetest thing and now it's scary how much power she has, scary how she keeps trying to take my spot as leader. I'd like to brush it off as just teen angst or something, but she's six, for god's sake!

"And then Iggy. I feel so bad for him, and I feel like at times he's just given up, and I don't know how to make it better, I don't know how to help him. And Nudge? She wants to be normal, so bad! I wonder what she'd give up. I worry that she'd give up wings in a heartbeat if she could just go to school and meet her mom and have friends and sleepovers and shopping trips. I feel so bad I can't let her do that. I mean, can't I let her go shopping once, can't I swallow my fears and let the flock go to school for a few months?

"And the Gasman's such a cute, amazing, sweet little kid and I can't even protect him anymore. I can't save him from whatever crap he's going to go through, and okay, it's not exactly my fault, but I want to make it better, and I can't; I don't know how!"

Max was crying now, letting the tears stream down freely. This was so out of character for her to break down, to let me know what was going on in that mind of hers that I had no clue how to react.

Thankfully, I didn't have too. A whitecoat burst through the door. "The girl." He pointed at Max. What the heck? Ari said no testing until tomorrow! That little liar! When I got my hands on him, I was gonna-

"It's okay, Fang." Max said.

Huh? I looked around and realized I was in front of the whitecoat, staring him down as he fumbled through his notes, flustered.

I nodded, and moved aside for her to go.

And then I sat down, and waited.

…..

**Max's POV:**

I followed the whitecoat down the hall and through a maze (not really, but it might as well have been) and into a lab. I tried to memorize the way, and quickly scanned for any escape routes.

None. Nada. Zilch.

Obviously, whoever had built this place knew enough about us to know we'd escape from any tiny crack in the wood. Well, it looked like we'd just have to do it the old fashioned way: right out the front door.

"Hi, Maximum." one of the female scientists greeted me. "I'm Chelsea, and I'm just letting you know that we're going to do some basic testing to learn more about you guys and then we'll let you go. Sound okay?"

Yeah, they would let me go. Right after the Easter bunny fed them poisoned eggs and Santa Claus got stuck in their chimney.

But I just nodded to the statement, because part of being a good leader is knowing when to start a fight, and when to let go.

I didn't fight back to the whitecoats when they taped pads and little wires to my arms and legs. One of them put a metal tubular thingy near my heart, probably to check my heart beat and I flinched, but other than that I was perfectly still.

"Okay, Max. Run for us." She said, gesturing to a treadmill.

_Max, wait!_

Oh, hello voice. How have you been?

_Max, when you get on that treadmill, remember that they're trying to hurt you and the flock with the information you're about to give them._

No freakin' duh, voice.

It was silent. Ugh, more fortune cookie crap. Couldn't it ever give me important and clear advice? But the voice had never been wrong yet, so I tried to understand what it was saying.

They're trying to hurt me and my flock with the info, so I should….feed them wrong information! It made perfect sense.

'Thanks, voice' I thought to myself, not knowing if I was sarcastic or not.

"Max?" The whitecoat asked. What was her name? Christy?

'_Chelsea__' The_ voice chimed in.

Oh, oh yeah. I nodded at her and got on the treadmill. She flashed me a thumbs up sign and started the machine at an incredibly slow pace. I ran (more like walked, actually) but I breathed really hard, knowing that it made my heart beat faster. As they turned it up, I gave them wackier and wackier reactions it was hilarious!

I was actually enjoying myself. At one point in time, she turned it to a high speed (for regular humans) that was really easy for me, and I clutched at my stomach and heaved and gasped for air but kept going. She turned it up one more notch and I sprinted full out, not even sweating or breathing hard.

Two hours or so later, they finally stopped, looking totally perplexed. (Ha! How's that for a big word!)

"Okay, Max. Now we're going to have you fight." She announced, and two mean, ruthless looking Erasers came in. I could have beaten them both with both hands tied behind my back but instead I let them get a lot of lucky hits, moving sluggishly and as if I was exhausted from all the running.

Ha. As if.

I still got the best of both of them, though, and smirked at them while they lay on the ground, writhing.

"Very good, Max." Chelsea told me. "Here's some food."

I took the huge chocolate chip granola bar carefully from her hand and stared at it suspiciously. I wouldn't put it past them to poison it or something.

Chelsea sighed with exaggerated patience. "It's fine, Max." she said, taking it from me and taking a huge bite. Hm, okay. When she gave it back, I devoured it. I heard a door open somewhere but didn't care enough to figure out who came in. Until I recognized Jeb's voice.

"How's she doing?" I heard him ask.

"Great." A different scientist replied, "Surprisingly cooperatively, actually."

Jeb's eyes narrowed. He knew I would never. "How'd she do against the Erasers?" he asked.

"Good. She had them both down in a matter of 10 minutes."

This sounds good until you realize that most of our fights don't even last a full ten minutes, and I could take out 20 or so erasers by myself in half that time.

"Why aren't you fighting, Max?" Jeb asked me softly. I stared him in the eye, refusing to either answer of look away.

"We're done for today." He announced a full minute later, when I neglected to respond to him.

"But sir, " a nerdy looking guy began.

"Nope." Jeb said. "We're done."

Two more people escorted me back to the cage, where I saw Fang's lean figure leaning against the back wall. They locked me in and left.

"Hey." I said to Fang.

"Hey." He said, turning around. "You okay?"

I nodded.

"Max, I've been thinking about what you said earlier. You're wrong, you know."

I just looked at him, not trusting myself to speak. Where was he going with this?

"Angel's just trying to figure out her role in all this. She's not evil, she's fine. She'll grow up to be a great person. She idolizes you, Max." Fang began.

"Iggy might be blind, but he's never let it stop him before and I doubt he will now. As long as the flock is with him, and he's blowing things up, he's okay."

I had to smile at that one.

"Gazzy, and Nudge, they knew it wasn't going to be easy when we escaped from the School. And I'm sure they'd rather live their lives the way we've been than in a cage. Actually, I think Nudge would rather be with us, in danger, than shopping without wings, alone.

"You're a great leader, Max, even if you're too stubborn to admit it. You are a great mom, and a great friend. No one blames you for the crap we're all in. We all love you, just the way you are."

"Fang…" I started, ready to prove him wrong, but he put a finger on my lips.

"Sh." He whispered. "Don't say anything."

I opened my mouth to argue again, but he brushed a lock of hair from my face to behind my ear and I froze. He left his hand on my face, lightly tracing down my jaw line. I shivered. What was he doing?

And then he kissed me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, and most of the story line belongs to James Patterson. **

My mouth shorted out against his. I completely forgot everything I was supposed to be thinking about. Whoosh, it all went out the window. I didn't kiss him back, but I didn't pull away either. It felt…good, I guess. It wasn't so amazing and it wasn't like in those teen magazines where invisible lights flashed and my stomach turned or anything. I liked it, but I had no idea what to make of it.

So, I did what any girl would do if a dark, gorgeous guy was kissing them.

I pulled away.

I stared at his dark brown eyes- chocolaty, almost- and saw something there. A glint of hope, maybe? I was probably just making it up.

"Fang…Fang, I don't know about this." I stuttered. How's that for eloquence?

The glint in his eyes disappeared, and his eyes became their usual, unreadable expression. Wait, that wasn't unreadable. Disappointment? Anger? It wasn't a happy emotion, that's for sure. Great.

Everything was perfect between us and he had to go and ruin it by, by kissing me.

There was no where for me to run to, to fly away to. Nope, just one little tight cozy cage for us to share.

I curled up on the opposite side of the cage from him miserably.

This was going to be a heck of a long night.

**Fang's POV**

Oh, god, MAX. She was so stubborn. I was so stupid! What did I think, that I would say a couple nice words and kiss her and she'd kiss me back and we'd get married and live happily ever after? I almost laughed at my own stupidity.

Her lips under mine felt…felt soft, tasted like chocolate. Sweet, and something you can't get enough of.

Her pulling away made me want to punch a wall in anger. But I did that last time, and all I got out of it was bloody knuckles.

But she was so confusing! One minute, she's be pouring her heart out to me, letting me know everything single thing going on in her minute. One minute, she'd hug me randomly, one minute she'd drive me crazy with all these little things. One minute she'll kiss me on the forehead. Next minute, she'll pull away from me.

Why doesn't she get it? I FREAKING LOVE HER.

I think.

I'm not so sure of anything anymore.

**Max's POV**

After that awkward night with Fang, I wasn't sure how to react in the morning.

Should I pretend it didn't happen? Should I bring it up and ask him? Would he kiss me again? Would I be expected to kiss him back? Would he talk to me about it?

Should I get up and face him or just lie here and die or something?

Ugh.

Gosh, Fang.

Thanks a lot.

A deep pounding on the cage's bars shook me out of thoughts.

"Come on." Ari said impatiently. "Both of you."

I looked at Fang, all thoughts about last night gone out the window, and he looked calm and calculating, like always. But I was totally confused, which meant he probably was too.

When we got to a different hallway, two more Erasers showed up. Ari grabbed my hand and pulled me one way; the other two took Fang.

"What's going on, Ari?" I demanded.

He chuckled, which was really annoying. "I'm not really allowed to say, but basically one of you is going to get tortured until both of you understand you have to cooperate for our tests."

Whoa-oh. I don't think so.

"Don't you dare touch Fang." I glared at him, and my expression would have made most grown men cry for their mommies. But it worked on Ari about as well as it worked on Fang. As in, not at all.

He grinned again. "It's not Fang getting tortured."

Oh. Well, at least they weren't going sexist pig on me. I could handle whatever they threw at me. I just hoped Fang didn't crack and give in. Psssh, of course he wouldn't. Fang and I are on the same frequency. Pain is just a message, and I wasn't going to check my messages till later. Flock came first. Then humanity, and you know, the world. We came last. He knew the drill.

We'd be okay.

Ari tied me to a chair. I didn't resist, because frankly, what was the point? I could see the 10 Erasers guarding the room, and even if I pulled a clever stunt and got away, they'd hurt Fang.

Wow. For once, it seems like they've actually thought this through.

Anyhow, I was smart enough to figure out that the mirror in front of me was two way. I glared at what I hoped was Fang, sending him a message with me eyes.

_Don't tell them anything. Don't cooperate. Don't give in._

If he saw, he'd get it. If it wasn't him, whatever. They'd just think I was even freakier than they thought. Okay, figure that sentence out.

"Alright, Max." Ari told me. "Here's the drill. I basically hurt you until you give in, agree to tell us where the rest of the flock is, and cooperate for Jeb's tests."

I scoffed at him. "Ari, maybe in your dreams."

Two Erasers came up behind me. I kept my eyes glaring at Ari, though. One of the Erasers pulled my wings together and then cut? bit? scratched? the space between them.

I bit my lip to keep in a scream. I knew that every scream that came out of my mouth would make it that much harder for Fang to stay strong. But, oh my god it hurt.

Ari leaned close to my face. "How about now, honey?" He said, his breathe blowing on my cheek.

I tried to keep from panting. "Nope." I managed to get out.

He growled at me. "Wrong answer." He said, and the erasers took that as a cue to start taping little paddles to me.

Shock paddles.

One of them gave Ari the remote and he turned some dial up all the way.

Three guesses which one. He pushed down on the button, and I felt like I would explode, my vision blanking out in front of me. I felt like my insides were on fire, but no body would put the flames out. My breath was coming raggedly and in short gasps, and every part of me was shaking.

Ari turned a knob down. "Where is the flock?" He asked me.

"No idea." I gasped out. He frowned at me, and shook his head.

And then he pressed the button again.

This time wasn't as bad. Once your hand is stuck in boiling water, adding more doesn't feel horrible till later. I guessed it was the same for this. It still felt terrible, though, worse than the many fights I had been in. It felt like someone had taken a knife and cut me right in half it hurt so badly.

"Max, it's in your best interests to tell me now." Ari warned. "Where is the flock?"

"I would rather die than tell you." I spat at him. He shrugged, unaffected.

"Your choice." He said.

And this pretty much kept going for an hour or so. Towards the end of it, my responses shortened to "no." to a shake of the head, and eventually to a cold glare.

"Max, this is your last chance." Ari warned me quite a while later. "Tell me now, or you're as good as dead."

"I. Won't. Tell. You." I told him, finding the strength in me to say a last few words. I would say them, and then die. Then it'd be okay. I had to keep going; I had to get these few last words out. "Like you'd kill me. I'm too important. Not like you, Ari. You're disposable." I paused, and spat out some blood. "And let's face it." My breath was coming out in short puffs, and I could see black hazing covering my eyes. I struggled to keep consciousness for this one last sentence.

"Let's face it, Ari. Jeb has always liked me better than you."

Ari screamed in rage, and lunged at me.

My world went black.

**A/N: So, how was it? And they don't get together D: Trust me, I'm a Fang-girl too, but I kind of need them to not be together for a little bit. I'll fix that soon :) Sorry about that scene, I know it's overused and cliché but it does serve a good purpose. School's started, and my chapters won't be coming as fast anymore. Keep reading, though, and I'll write as much as I can. Review, please. :) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the character, and most of the story line belongs to James Patterson**

**Fang's POV  
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When Max and I were pulled in different directions, I dreaded what was about to happen. I wanted to ask what was going on, but once I was dragged into a tiny room with a two way mirror, where Max was getting tied to chair, I understood for my self.

My stomach turned at how sick it all was.

"Not her." I growled. Max would go crazy on me about how sexist I was being, but it was just plain wrong to make me watch _her_ getting tortured.

Jeb stepped into the room. "Sorry Fang. It has to be done, and it has to be her." He gave me an apologetic look, and I gritted my teeth in anger. I had seen that look before, when Jeb burned whatever we were trying to make for lunch. When he wrestled me into a white shirt. When he had to give a shot to Angel, or take a bomb-in-the-making away from Gazzy. When he told Max she couldn't fly for a week after she tore her wing. When he brought up something to do with seeing when Iggy was around.

How dare he try to bring back those memories! How dare he try to remind me of what we had once shared! That traitor. I struggled to keep my face impassive.

"Make him watch." Jeb said softly, and walked out. He looked sorry, but that didn't mean anything. Screw him.

A short, stubby little man came running into the room and placed a speaker near my feet.

Max looked straight at me, as if she could see me, and pleaded at me with her eyes. It was a cold stare, actually, but I knew she was pleading with me to not cooperate, to not give in, because she wasn't going to, no matter what.

_Cooperate. _I begged her silently. _Just tell them, and we can face the rest of it together._

She was still glaring at me when Ari started talking. Max turned to face him.

"Alright, Max." Ari told her. "Here's the drill. I basically hurt you until you give in, agree to tell us where the rest of the flock is, and cooperate for Jeb's tests."

She scoffed at him. I knew she would. "Ari, maybe in your dreams."

Two Erasers came up behind her and squeezed her wings together. Ouch. I knew from experience how much that hurt. But they weren't done. One of them flicked out a knife and cut a line straight down the space between her wings.

Just to let you know, that spot is extremely raw and tender even for a regular human, and for us mutant bird kids, it's even worse. It's the place where all the joints and tiny bones in our wings connect, and it has almost triple the number of nerve endings than anywhere else in our bodies.

My stomach twisted to know that I was so close to her, but so powerless to help her. I saw her bit her lip and her eyes start to water. And I knew that she was keeping it in for me.

Gosh, Max, JUST TELL THEM.

Ari leaned close to her face. "How about now, honey?"

Max was breathing really hard, but she still growled out a: "Nope."

"Wrong answer" Ari snarled at her, and two other erasers started taping little shock paddles to her.

My stomach turned again. It was one thing to beat her up, and a different thing to shock her repeatedly. Ari took the remote from the hands of another Eraser and turned the power dial up all the way. Ouch.

He pushed down on the button and I saw Max actually trembling from the pain of it. She was gasping in breath, and her eyes were wild with pain.

Ari turned a knob down. "Where is the flock?" He asked Max.

"No idea." she gasped out. He frowned at her, and shook his head.

And then he pressed the button again.

She was still shaking, but not as badly this time. I could see her actually swallow her screams down, not wanting to give Ari the satisfaction or me the pain.

"Max, it's in your best interests to tell me now." Ari warned. "Where is the flock?"

"I would rather die than tell you." She spat at him. How she found the strength or will, I don't know. He shrugged, unaffected.

"Your choice." He said.

And he kept going, on and on and Max kept refusing to tell him anything, she kept her mouth shut pretty tight. Jeb came in and warned them to make sure I was watching, but my eyes were practically glued to the scene in front of me. I wanted to take in everything, so I had that much more pure fury in me next time I fought Ari.

I could tell that Max was losing her strength, her consciousness, her comprehension, losing everything but her willpower, and her love for us, for the flock. And at that moment, I didn't give a crap whether she had pulled away from me or not. Because god knows how much she loves each of us; this was proof of how far she would go to protect us. And if she didn't want to kiss me, have a relationship, fine.

I would respect that. I would respect everything about her, especially her stubbornness, because that's the only reason she'd even made it this far.

Her answers were shortening, and now she was just glaring at Ari, not even opening her mouth. I got the horrible feeling that if she did, she would let out a bloodcurdling scream, and that's why she wasn't.

"Max, this is your last chance." Ari warned her quite a while later. "Tell me now, or you're as good as dead."

"I. Won't. Tell. You." She told him, probably struggling to find enough energy to say a last few words. I could tell she just wanted to die, right there and then, but she wouldn't because she was my strong, brave Max.

"Like you'd kill me. I'm too important. Not like you, Ari. You're disposable." She paused, and spat out some blood. "And let's face it." Her breath was coming out in short puffs, and I could see her eyes widen and retracts awkwardly, letting me know that she was struggling to keep conscious.

"Let's face it, Ari. Jeb has always liked me better than you."

Ari screamed in rage, and lunged at her.

She fell limply to the ground.

"NO!" I yelled, standing up and somehow breaking all my binds. Red tinted my vision, I was so furious. Without even thinking about it, I knocked down the two Erasers that had sprung to my sides. I was out the door and down the hall already, just shoving everything out of my way. I didn't care for fighting, I didn't care for killing, or even wounding, I just had to get to Max, to my Max.

Nobody had any idea what was going on. I was at the hall where they first had separated me and Max and I broke into a sprint. I was mobbed by Erasers, but somehow managed to run straight through them without t getting hurt.

Oh, wait, I was hurt. I could feel blood running down my side but I couldn't feel pain. And then suddenly an Eraser jumped on me and I punched him in the gut and tried to shove him off of me, but was heavy, really heavy.

He pummeled me with his hands and I finally threw him off with a well placed kick only to get jumped again by a different one. I heard a growl come from my throat, feeling more wolf like than they probably did.

"Fang, it's only going to hurt worse if you struggle. Help us help you." I heard Jeb's voice say. What lies. I kept struggling and fighting, as hard as I could when I felt a needle jab my side. My eyes widened when I realized what had just happened.

And then I crumpled to the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, and most of the story line belongs to James Patterson.**

**Max's POV:**

I hurt all over, and felt like total crap. My head was pounding, my insides burning, and my entire body still obnoxiously shaking. After I blacked out, I regained consciousness in what must have been minutes. Jeb had rushed into the room and told Ari to stop. Like I thought, they didn't want to kill me. I almost tried to die, just to spite them, but thought of Angel, thought of Nudge, thought of Iggy, Gazzy, and Ella, thought of my mom. Thought of Fang, and I changed my mind.

I would live to spite them. I would escape this hell hole and come back and rub it in their faces.

The thought itself made me happy.

Anyhow, an obviously scared whitecoat escorted me back to my cage, where I saw Fang sitting in the corner. We still were down the hall, but I guess he heard us, because I saw his lean, tall figure get up and wait for me. The whitecoat swiped her card to unlock the door and gently pushed me in.

Humph. Gently. She must have been a novice. As soon as she left, Fang engulfed me in a huge hug.

"Max, Max, Max." He crooned. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"Ow. Oww!" I muttered under my breath. I didn't want to break the hug, but it was hurting me. I guess he heard because he apologetically pulled away.

"Where?" He asked me, already knowing that his first two questions were stupid. I most definitely was not okay. Duh, I felt like crap.

I tried to grin at him. "Everywhere." Suddenly a thought struck my mind. "Fang, you didn't tell them anything, right? You better have kept your mouth shut, boy!"

He looked at me, incredulous. "No, I didn't say anything. Forget that, sit down. I don't want you to faint again."

For once in my life I listened without arguing. I sat down and leaned against a wall, greatly in need of a nap.

"What happened in there, Max?" Fang asked me softly. I could feel my eyelids start to droop.

"Um." I said, squeezing my eyes in concentration.

"Don't bother answering. You should get some sleep. Just point to where your worst wounds are; I'll take care of them." He told me. I nodded gratefully.

"It's mostly my stomach." I informed him, way past the point of being even remotely embarrassed. "My back, but it's just the cut. And my legs hurt badly, but I think that's just internal." I yawned and blinked tiredly.

Fang scooted closer to me and put my head in his lap. He was sitting Indian style, so I could comfortably use his legs as a pillow, and he could access every where he had to for cleaning out my injuries.

I was out in a matter of minutes.

…..

When I woke up, my head was still in Fang's lap, but I felt loads better. My body still hurt all over, much worse than before, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.

"Fang?" I croaked, wincing at my hoarse voice.

He looked like he was sleeping, but he must have been at least a bit awake because his eyes flicked open at the sound of my voice.

"Water?" he asked.

I nodded. It was actually exactly what I'd wanted, and I was really happy that he knew that about me for some reason. Must have been the pain.

"I, uh, treated your cuts. Most of it's internal, and you'll just have to heal on your own. Maybe we can ask for an aspirin or something." Fang said, shifting uncomfortably.

OH. It must have been the whole taking my shirt off so he could treat the cuts on my chest and stomach part. Whatever. He could get over it. I mean, I wasn't embarrassed about it, so how could he be?

"Max, I think it's my day for testing. What's the plan?" He asked.

"I don't have any idea." I admitted.

He looked slightly shocked, probably at my admission. Then he smirked at me. "What, I thought you ALWAYS have a plan. The great Maximum Ride, plan less?" He teased.

I tried to laugh, but it was more of a huff. "Give me a break. I was just electrocuted within an inch of my life." I replied, in the same tone. His face fell as soon as I said it though.

"I know. I'm sorry." He said, all traces of happiness gone from his voice.

"Hey." I scooted closer to him, even though it was killing my tailbone and butt. "It's not your fault. I would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed." He knew I was telling the truth. Sure, it would have hurt me, but I value the flock's safety over everything.

"I know." He blinked sadly at me.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked him, and then punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Oh, wise one."

Grinning, he punched me lightly back.

I swore under my breath and Fang looked at me, alarmed.

"I'm sorry." His eyes were the size of saucers. The expression looked so odd on him I burst out laughing.

"Fang, it's okay! I'm okay! I'll be fine!" It was only partly the truth. I mean, I would be fine, but I technically wasn't okay. That's fine, he knew what I meant.

"And I always have a plan. I was just testing you. The plan is that you go ahead and let them test on you. Cooperate. Whenever we see an escape route, we'll fight our way out. But we should wait for a bit because I can't really fight yet." I hated, absolutely HATED to add that last bit. It made me sound weak and pathetic.

And the worst part was, I was weak and pathetic for the time being. There was no way I would be able to fight. I mean, moving hurt for me! Sitting up hurt me! How was I supposed to fight.

Had it been for any other reason, Fang would have teased me mercilessly about being so weak, but I feel like he wouldn't bring this incident up every again if he could help it. I think he was trying to help me forget. And besides, he was looking at me like he was proud of me for admitting I wasn't always perfect.

Or, hey, wait, that might have just been a smirk. Just kidding about that last bit, then.

A whitecoat came to the door. I think it was the same lady who let me back in last time, but that memory was so hazy I really don't remember. She asked Fang to come out, and he got up, but then he paused.

"Stay put, kay? Sleep if you can. Try not to move too much." I nodded at his instructions. "Stretch, though." He added as an afterthought.

The whitecoat cleared her throat. Fang glared at her and she backed off quickly. Then he gave me a peck on the forehead and walked away, leaving me more confused than ever.

….

I must have fallen asleep again, because I opened my eyes to see Fang back in the cage. He was staring at the wall, but I guess he was looking at me with his peripheral vision because his head snapped towards me the minute I looked up.

"Hey. How'd it go?" I asked him, referring to the testing.

His eyes darkened, and I instantly dreaded bad news.

"It was fine." He reassured me. "Just…I just found out about something."

I raised my eyebrows, not trusting myself to talk.

"Well, they were doing x-rays and stuff of me, and I caught a glimpse of one of them." He took a deep breath.

"You're not the only one with a chip in your arm, Max. Judging by the scientist's words, we each have one."

My eyes widened. No freaking way!

"And the worst part is, it's how they've been controlling us."

…

Cliffy! :) Review and message me, guys. It means a lot to me. So there was a teensy, teensy bit a Faxness in there. Just a tad. Sorry about that, but here's a secret:

They're not really going to get together till later. And until then, nothing for them! Except for tiny little scenes like this.

Am I doing okay with the posting? Do you want them sooner, longer, how?


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, and most of the story line belongs to James Patterson.**

**Max's POV:**

"WHAT?" I screeched, shocked.

Fang frantically motioned for me to lower my voice.

"Sorry." I whispered, "What do you mean?"

"They took an x-ray of me, and then I caught a glimpse of it and I had a weird looking blob in my arm. I didn't think anything of it until I heard the scientist's talking." Fang murmured. I opened my mouth again, to ask him what they had said, but he cut me off.

**(A/N: Sorry, but I'm going to write what Fang says as its own little scene so it's easier to understand who said what. It'll still be in Max's POV, but it'll be more like a short scene change like in a movie)**

""They thought I was asleep, but I had just woken up. The blond one began….

"It the tracking device working properly?" she asked.

"Yes, as far tracking goes. But for some reason, it's malfunctioned in the boy only, because he lacks any special skills we've programmed for him." the one with the bushy beard replied.

"How do you know it hasn't malfunctioned in all of the mutants?" the blond one challenged.

"The littlest one has surpassed them all in abilities. She can talk to fish, breath under water, read minds, and control thoughts/emotions. The African one can attract metals. The leader has developed warp drive, and the small blond boy, the one they so aptly named Gasman has, well, has gas. The blind boy can see bits of color. But this one here, he can't do anything special."

"Makes sense. Have you replaced the chip?"

"Yes. We can't send anything after them for a few days because if he were to cut his arm, the bone has not grown enough to secure the chip, and he may break it again."

The blond one nodded again, and they started moving towards me so I closed my eyes and made my breathing shallow.**"" **Fang finished his story.

**(A/N: And now it's back in present day perspective :D )**

"Wow." I gasped. "That's…that's terrible. Why would they be giving us powers? And setting Erasers after us to test them? Is that what they're doing?"

Fang shook his head. "I don't know why, but I get the feeling that they didn't mean to give us powers. I mean, they're powers now, but I think they have ways to use them against us."

I was confused. "How can they use warp drive and mind reading and magnetism against us?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I've told you all I know. You're the leader, figure out a plan." He sat down and cracked his back.

I glared at him. For such a smart person, he could really be a jerk sometimes.

**Fang's POV:**

"I've told you all I know. You're the leader, figure out a plan." I sat down and cracked my back. I could feel Max glaring at me, but I didn't look up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her expression switch from angry to thoughtful, to determined.

"Got it." She announced. "Break out of this hell hole. Meet up with the flock. Continue on our original plan."

It was my turn to be confused. "Wait, which plan, and why?"

She smirked at me annoyingly. "The let'-and-let-her-take-the-chip-out-of-my-arm-plan, now revised to the: let's-go-to-Dr. Martinez-and-let-her-take-the-chip-out-of-our-arms-plan."

It did make sense. I shrugged my agreement. "How do propose we escape?"

She grinned at me, and I got the feeling I wasn't going to like this crazy idea of hers.

"Simple. You tell them where the Flock is when they threaten to torture me again. They go, and they probably take us. They fight, we fight, we all just go up and away." She explained, making it sound like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"First, how do you know they'll threaten to torture you again? Second, why would they take us with them? We'd be a hindrance, they know that. And we don't even know where the Flock is?" I pointed out the many holes in her plan. Gosh, it was so good it was comparable to Swiss cheese.

"My point exactly." She said, and leaned in closer and told me the rest of her plan. And then I was grinning ear to ear.

For someone so small and pretty, Max was awfully vicious.

…..

The next morning, surprisingly enough, Jeb showed up at our door. It was the best case scenario that Max had planned out, and I was thrilled at our escape starting on such a good note.

"G-g-good morning Jeb." Max said weakly, flinching as if he was going to hit her.

As evil as Jeb had turned, he still had some sort of fatherly instinct for us. He quickly unlocked the cage and hugged her tight.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Max said, and when Jeb quickly pulled away, he could see tears start in her eyes.

"Sorry, honey. I'm really sorry. This is all Fang's fault. If he had just given me the answers, you wouldn't have had to go through that." Jeb cooed at her, hesitating whether to hug her again or not.

Yeah, right. Max would have killed me if I had said anything. And she could have just as easily told them what they needed to know.

Max just nodded and starting sobbing, and lucky for us, Jeb was eating this up.

Max belongs on Broadway. Honestly, if it hadn't been planned between us, I would have totally believed her too.

Jeb leaned in closer, as if to hug her again when I pushed her away gently, stepping in between the two of them

"Don't touch her." I growled. There was a slight pause in Max's sobbing. This hadn't been planned, and she had no clue where I was going with it.

Jeb's expression quickly changed from one of concern to anger.

"Okay, Fang. I won't touch her." He spat at me. "It'll be you with Ari today, instead." He glared at me coldly and I stared at him right back, refusing to back down.

"Fine." I said, my voice steel. The plan was screwed over, but I didn't care. We'd do it later. Right now, I didn't want Jeb within a 10 foot radius of Max.

"No!" Max cried out from behind me. Both I and Jeb turned towards her, surprised.

"No." She said brokenly, and it was so painful for me to watch I wasn't even sure if she was still acting. "Not him too." She whispered hoarsely. "I'll tell you everything you want, Jeb. Just- just don't-" she broke of into another round of sobs.

Jeb looked thrilled. "That's great sweetheart! Come on now, tell me everything."

I looked from Max to Jeb, totally and utterly confused now. None of this was according to plan. Maybe it was my fault, for straying from the script earlier. I just hoped she had a plan, and the brave, beautiful, strong, smart, silly, perfect Max hadn't finally cracked.

"Angel heard the Eraser's minds and warned us that they were coming. I told Fang and Nudge to grab Gazzy, Angel, and Iggy and get out of there. My plan was to check it out, see if I could fight, and if I couldn't, I would warp drive it out of there." Max said.

Jeb nodded. I was totally scared now. This was the truth. She was telling him the truth! Not the story we had agreed on last night! We were screwed. I inwardly groaned, but then chastised myself. Max would never do that. She would rather that she and I both die than ever put the Flock in danger. She had proved that, many times over, the latest being when she withheld their sickening punishments.

" But Fang said no, said he wouldn't leave me alone. So I told the rest of them to retreat into a clearing at 1o'clock. They won't be there anymore, though. They're smart enough to keep moving. Even I don't know where, and that's the honest to god truth."

She went on, not waiting to see if he believed her, "And it's horrible, because I'm supposed to be the leader and I didn't even have a safe spot in mind! I was so stupid, Jeb! I forgot everything you told me. I didn't take any precautions!"

"So what are you saying, Max? You don't know? That's it?" Jeb asked.

"Well, that's the thing, Jeb." Max whispered. "The flock would have left us clues as to where they went. Clues only Fang and I would understand."

Both Jeb and I understood at the same exact time.

"Nope. Absolutely not." Jeb said, standing up. "You can't come with us, Max. We'd need to tie you up, and post security, and you could still be a hindrance. This was a plot to escape, right? Well, it's not going to work. You need to stay until we can experiment more."

_Well, duh. Of course this was a plot. Kind of slow, aren't you Jeb? _ I thought. But I didn't say anything. That would have been pretty stupid of me.

"To escape? You really think we'd be that stupid, Jeb?" Max asked incredulously. "Huh. No. The plan wasn't that at all. Way off." She smirked and I frowned inwardly. If she laid it on so thick, he would know she was lying.

"Then what was it, Maximum?" Jeb asked rudely.

"Like I'd tell you." Max replied smarmily, all traces of whimpering broken girl gone.

"If you don't tell me right now, Max, I'll-"

"Hit me? Torture me? Hit him, torture him? Go ahead. Like I told Ari yesterday, I would rather DIE than turn in my flock. And just to let you know, the plan was that we'd get the entire flock here, and then escape. But I take my offer back. Even if you let me and Fang come, we're not going to. And we aren't going to help you find them." She was furious, beyond furious now, and I could tell by the tone of her voice.

"Fine." Jeb replied, his voice steely. "Round two." He clapped twice and two Erasers I hadn't seen came running down the halls and grabbed onto Max.

"No." I said. Everyone turned to me, surprised. I guess they'd forgotten I was here.

"Who said that?" grunted one of the Erasers. Wow, are they really that stupid? I was right here. But it wasn't just the Erasers looking around blindly, Max and Jeb were doing it too.

Whoa. I think I just developed a new power. Take that, you jerks.

"Where's Fang?" Jeb barked.

Max smiled so evilly it was sort of disturbing. "Don't mess with us, Jeb. It'll bite you in the butt." And then she disappeared.

I guess I should explain how that happened. Back when I first figured out I had my power, when the Erasers were looking around, I waved my hand in front of his face to see if I was invisible. He didn't flinch, so I knew I was. I was being quiet, but Max heard me, heard my footsteps on the ground. And when my hand accidently brushed the Eraser, he flickered for a moment. And I figured out I could make anything I was holding on to invisible too.

In the split second it too me and Max to understand all that, Jeb had realized I 'wasn't there'

"Where's Fang?" Jeb barked.

Max smiled so evilly it was sort of disturbing. "Don't mess with us, Jeb. It'll bite you in the butt." She snapped her fingers in the air, and left her hand there. It was milliseconds after that I grabbed it, turning her invisible too. And to everyone else, their prize prisoners had just vanished!

We were awesome.

Before anyone could raise the alarm, I and Max sprinted down the hallways until we came to rooms wide enough to hold our wingspans. We snapped out our wings, so loosely bound from the night we untied them, and flew above the ruckus below us. Red lights started to flash, but we ignored them as we flew higher, and faster, and raced towards the door. As we were about 20 feet away, they closed themselves and locked automatically.

The building had gone into lock down. I wasn't sure what to do, but Max let go of my hand, and burst out the nearest window. I followed immediately, all concerns of invisibility gone. I could see people gasping and pointing at us from the building, but Max and I didn't turn back once as we flew out.

Why would we?

We were free.

….

**Yay! They escaped:) You likey? Me likey. Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own the idea of Maximum Ride.

I got kind of bored with how slow this story is moving. There's a lot left, and if it's boring for me to write, I can only imagine how boring it is for you to read. So I'm trying to speed it up. That's why some of the story is told in past tense, instead of as it happens. It's not really my favorite style of writing, but it sure beats writing the whole insignificant details out. So here we go!

**Third Person POV:**

Ari howled in rage as he watched Max and Fang fly away. They had escaped! He punched the wall next to him. It bruised his knuckles, but he didn't care. It just gave him more incentive to be angry.

How had it happened? Who had been careless enough to let them escape?

Jeb, Jeb, Jeb. It was ALWAYS Jeb! It was always his fault! So Max had been crying a bit. Why'd he have to soften up so much as to relax his guard, to ignore his security?

Ari was surprised that girl didn't break sooner. Keeping silence even through all that pain, he knew first hand how brave she was.

And he grudgingly respected her for it. And he wished he was in her place. If he was, he would have had a chance to prove himself. It just as easily could have been him that was mutant bird kid on the run, and she the Eraser. Even though Max didn't know it, they had the same Dad, for god's sake!

So why wasn't it him? Why did he never, ever get any sort of opportunity?

Ari knew the answer, on the inside.

He knew what Max had said was totally true.

Jeb had always liked Max better than Ari.

…

**Fang's POV: (because it's so much more fun to write :D )**

I had a smile on my face.

If you know me at all, you know I don't smile very much. Actually, I almost never smile. I smirk at bad guys, and my lips might turn up slightly if something is funny enough for every one else to be laughing.

But I don't smile.

So why was there a huge grin on my face as I was flying with Max, away from our prison?

Well, I sort of just answered the question. I was flying with Max, away from our prison. Trust me, if you'd just escaped captivity, you'd be smiling too.

So I'm justified. And that wasn't it.

We'd been totally lost, hungry, and tired when the excitement at escaping faded away. Max was still hurt really badly, and we had no supplies and no food. So we'd coasted to the nearest town, and were about to buy some food when Max remembered that Iggy still had her card. He still had it from when he had nicked it, weeks ago.

It was a good thing, in a way. So they were able to buy their food and clothing. But it was bad for us. They at least had Angel, who could (when absolutely necessary, never otherwise!) manipulate people into giving us free stuff. But Max and I were stranded, in the middle of nowhere with no food or way to get food.

But then Max's Voice popped up. And told her fortune cookie crap she stormed around muttering, until a light bulb almost literally glowed on top of her head.

It had told her 'you reap what you sow,' which sounds like total bull crap. We could hardly plant a garden now, could we? And wait for everything to sprout and grow and cook it and eat it?

But then Max got it. She saw a little farm, and so we knocked on the door and asked if we could stay the night and have dinner if we worked for it. The old women took one look at us, beaten, tired, bloody, and probably quite horrible overall, and said absolutely not.

I didn't blame her. If I was a normal person, and I saw kids like this asking to stay the night, I would lock my doors.

But that wasn't what she meant.

This sweet old lady said that it would kill her to put us to work, not when we looked so in need to food and shelter. So she sat us in her tiny kitchen and cooked us a huge pot of soup that we inhaled.

She seemed a bit surprised at how much and how fast we ate, but she cooked another pot full without batting an eye. So for the first time in days, we had a nice, hot, fresh dinner.

She said there wasn't enough room in her house for us to sleep, so she directed us to her barn, where she kicked the cows out for the night and put together straw beds for her. We offered to help, but she insisted on doing it all herself.

While the straw wasn't comfortable as a bed, per say, it sure beat sleeping on the ground. And without bothering about watch, the two of us fell asleep immediately in the comfortably warm bundles.

…..

"Good morning!" the old lady greeted. I blearily opened my eyes and saw Max already sitting up. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and faced the old lady. (Gosh, I really need to stop calling her old lady. Note to self: ask for her name.)

"Thank you, so much for everything. We'll leave now; we don't want to be a bother." Max said. Wow, she actually had manners. Why wasn't I special enough to get treated to that side of her?

The old lady glared at Max sternly. "Young lady!" she warbled. "I have no idea what the two of you have been up to. You look like you've been on the brink of death, you look starving, and tired."

"We-" I began, scrambling to think of a halfway plausible explanation. But the old lady put up a hand to stop me.

"And I don't want to know. When I look at you, I think of my grandkids. If they were ever in a bad situation, and they stumbled upon a little old lady with a ton of food and a big comfy barn, I'd like to think that lady would help 'em, just like I've helped you. Your family would like to think the same thing. I'm glad I could help you both." She said.

I was stunned by the pure sincerity that rang in her words. She meant what she said. She hadn't called the police, or turned us out, or treated us inferior in anyway. Instead, she had taken us in, fed us, and compared us to her grandkids.

Whoever those grandkids were, they better be might grateful to have a grandmother like her.

I didn't know what to say, so Max did it for me. "Thank you. For everything." She said simply, but it was the truth. There was nothing more we could do for her.

"I'm Max, and this is Fang." she introduced, sticking her hand out.

The old woman mused at her. Ignoring the hand, she enveloped Max into a large hug. "It's so nice to meet you, Max. I'm Cecilia."

She came over and hugged me too. It was a bit awkward because I wasn't a very huggy type, but Max narrowed her eyebrows at me until I put my arms around Cecelia.

I don't know how the voice knew, but quite honestly, the stroke of luck that we would find someone as nice as Cecelia was a blessing. I don't know how I felt about god, but if there's something or someone up there, thank you.

Cecelia fed us a spectacular breakfast of buttered toast and eggs. She packed us sandwiches for lunch (3 each, she was learning) and put them in backpacks for us. She offered us her credit card, but Max turned it down.

"No, Cecelia, we can't accept that. We may never see each other again; I would never get to return it. And…" I had never seen Max struggle for words so much before, "And meeting you is a blessing. Really. I would like to pay you back."

Pay her back? How? I was curious, but I didn't say anything.

"Do you have a camera, Cecelia?" Max asked.

Cecelia nodded. "Sure do."

"Take a picture of what I'm going to show you. When you go to town, sell it to the newspaper. It's not much, but it's all I have."

I understood where Max was going.

Cecelia looked confused, but she took out her camera, like Max instructed her too.

"And one last thing, Cecelia. What I show you might scare you. It might worry you. You will be confused. But I need to ask from you one last favor."

Cecelia nodded.

"Say that you saw us in your fields. Don't tell anyone what you've done for us. Say that you can't be sure what we are, the picture's all you have. Say that we just appeared, stayed a minute, and disappeared. Didn't talk or anything. Okay?" Max told solemnly.

"Okay honey" Cecelia replied, looking unsure.

Max walked out into the fields. She spread her wings out wide, and hovered in the air.

Cecelia gaped at her. "What…but. How?" She whispered.

"Take the picture." I reminded her. She looked at me, scared, but did as I said. Max flew back and tucked her wings out. Cecelia reached out and felt Max's wings, as if to prove she hadn't imagined it all.

"We're still the same people, Cecelia. And you were right. We've been through a lot. People are out to capture us. Thank you." Max repeated.

"Max…" Cecelia looked like she would cry. She looked scared, and angry, and slightly nervous. Then her jaw set and I saw a glint in her eye. "People don't thank their grand mothers." She said fiercely and all of a sudden she and Max were hugging and crying. (Well, Max was hugging and Cecelia was crying)

Max slowly pulled away. "We have to go now." She turned and mouthed to me 'invisible'

Cecelia nodded. She wouldn't ask us to stay. "Will I see you again?"

I stood behind the two of them, already invisible.

Max let out a shaky breathe. "I really hope so." And then I grabbed her hand, and we flew away.

…

So here we were. Flying away. We were one step closer to the Flock, one step further from Jeb and Ari.

What's not to smile about? Oh, and here's one more reason I was smiling.

We needed to stay invisible.

So I was still holding Max's hand.

…..

**A bit cheesy, a bit easy, a bit action less. A bit convenient that they find Cecilia. But they deserve a break. Call it a filler chapter if you want, but it actually sets up for some other stuff later.**

**Review! Hope you liked :) **


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the super long wait, guys! I'm writing frantically so I can make it up to you :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

It had been 2 hours since we had left Cecilia's farm. We were looking for the flock, and we had absolutely no idea where we were, or where they might be. But that little GPS inside of me told me to go north for the next hour, and then take a slight left to North West. It was leading me to the Flock, I knew for sure.

Haha, just kidding.

I just felt a pull in my stomach to go in one direction and Fang's stomach agreed, so we kept going that direction. Because we were invisible, we were flying really low, one on top of each other so we could hold hands and still fly easily. I was getting tired of reaching my hand up, though, and my fingers were numb, so I said to Fang:

"Let's fly higher."

I guess he nodded or something, forgetting I couldn't see him, because he lurched upward and I almost let go of him. So close to the ground, it would have been disastrous. It was one thing for us to show Cecelia our wings, and another to show the whole town.

After we reached a comfortable height, I let go of Fang's hand and massaged circulation back into to my own.

"Stroke of luck?" Fang asked. I looked at him curiously and frowned. Was I not worth a full sentence? Could he not use proper English?

Obviously he couldn't, because he continued, "Down there."

I looked down at where he was pointing. With my raptor vision, I could just barely make out the shape of a small cave.

"Maybe. We should check it out." I told him, and we swooped downwards gracefully. Once we got inside the cave, I wanted to jump up and dance. I wanted to scream my happiness. Because in the middle on the cave floor, lay one perfect, unblemished white feather.

Angel.

The feather was placed in such an unnatural angle it seemed to pointing at something. Fang strode over to a cluster of rocks and began to un pile them. On the very floor was a little drawing into the dirt. It looked like it was a credit card. But what on earth could that mean?

Out of all the different clues they could have put together for us, they drew a credit card?

I glared at the dirt, as if I could will it to move into an easier clue. _Think, Max, think!_ I told myself.

Great, now I talk to myself. I'm telling you, I'm steps away from insanity.

I felt Fang's hand on my shoulder. "What!" I snapped at him.

He looked at me, unaffected by my rude tone and chilly glare. "Remember the first time you got your credit card?"

"Duh." I said. What did that have anything to do with it?

"You had to hack into your account." He said, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Get to the point!" I said, patience running out.

He smiled. "What was the password, Max?"

My eyes brightened as I remembered the answer. "Mother! But… what does that have to do with where they are?"

"They're in Arizona, Max. They're at your mom's house."

I jumped up and hugged him. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around me like he usually did, and it was weirdly…comforting.

It was a perfect fit.

I broke the hug and poked him on the nose.

"For someone so annoying, you're quite genius sometimes!" I told him happily.

"Gee, thanks." He responded dryly. I laughed and then stopped abruptly, all business like.

"To Arizona, then?" I asked him. He nodded.

"To Arizona."

…..

We had been flying for hours. We had already stopped and eaten off of someone's garden (So if you find all your fruit missing….) several times, and we were full and content. And we had a mission. It was almost dark, but we were almost into Texas, so neither of us wanted to stop. We could keep going; it wasn't a very big deal.

The lights of Texas flickered below us. And then I felt it. A tugging at my mind. I frowned, and Fang noticed.

"Head ache?" he asked.

I shook my head uneasily. "I don't know. It's never hurt like this before. It's more a tug, like someone trying to get a hold of me. Not a mind shattering thing at all."

"Angel?" Fang asked.

"What? No. They're in Arizona. And besides, she can't project this far!"

"We don't know that for sure. Who knows when they had left the cave? They probably waited for us for at least a day or two. We were only in there for 2 days. Maybe they haven't made it to Arizona yet. Maybe they left just before we got there." He reasoned.

I wanted to scowl at him, but he was right. The Flock would have waited at least a day and half or so before leaving. And even after they left, they would be going much slower than us, and would have stopped and gone shopping at Nudge's insisting or something.

So he was definitely right. It was a possibility.

"What should I do?" I asked him openly. He was my best friend, my right wing man. He knew I didn't have a plan. I didn't need to pretend in front of him.

"Fly lower?" He suggested. "Maybe she's trying to project thoughts."

I shrugged. It couldn't hurt. We flew downwards a good thousand feet, and suddenly the ground and city seemed extremely close to us.

"We should stop for the night." I said, for some reason feeling quite uneasy. Fang looked at me, surprised. He knew I wanted to find the Flock. So why was I stalling? Thankfully, he didn't say anything, because I didn't have an answer for him.

"Hotel?" He asked. I hesitated.

"How?" I wondered, "We don't have my credit card."

He smirked at me, and I was apprehensive of what he would say.

"You're not the only one with…talents." He said, and we coasted down into a little empty alleyway and walked to the nearest hotel. It was huge, a fancy sort of thing.

I looked at Fang, unsure. He smiled at me, and nodded. I followed him, confused as to what he would do.

"Hi, how may I help you today?" the lobbyist asked, as she looked Fang up and down. Ew, gross. She was at least 5 or 6 years older than him. Isn't that illegal?

Fang, to his credit, didn't bat an eye. "We need a room for the night." He told her, his voice husky.

She turned to me for the first time, dislike obvious on her frowning face and scrunched up nose. Fang put an arm around me. I did my best not to look too surprised. I had no clue where he was going with this. I made my face form into a bored expression.

"Which kind?" She asked, all previous niceness gone from her voice.

"The cheapest room you have." He told her. It made sense. Even if it was really small with a one person bed or something, we'd sleep on the floor. Hotel carpet is a step up from mud and trees, that's for sure.

"That'll be $60 for a night." She said.

Fang hesitated. "The thing is, we separated from our group, and it was an all kids thing, so we didn't really plan for the night. They have our stuff, and we thought maybe if we could stay in this hotel for the night, we could find them in the morning, and pay you then. Will that be okay?"

"Absolutely not." She snobbishly sneered. "Pay up front, or no room."

"No room." I said, and I dragged Fang out of there. She glared at us the whole way.

"Why'd you do that? I had a plan." Fang said.

"Oh yeah? What was it?" I countered. Fang faltered, and I knew he hadn't had one.

"I have a better plan." I told him without rubbing the whole failure in his face. See, I'm the better person here.

Fang and I walked down the street until we reached a more middle class hotel. It seemed like a nice enough place, not too run down but not high end either, like the other one. I looked at the blaring sign that was flashing "Vacancies Open" and decided it was the perfect hotel.

We went down a small back street, checked to make sure no one was looking, and jumped through a random window.

I opened the door from the inside and stuck the "DO NOT DISTURB" sign. No one would disturb us. With so many nicer, cleaner hotels on the same street, this one was practically empty. Most likely, nobody would even notice that we had been here, and we'd leave the same way- through the back window.

Fang and I collapsed on the bed. We were beat. There was a small pull out couch in the room, but we ignored it, and shared the king bed instead. We'd slept closer together before, on the ground. Why was it any different on a bed? I argued with myself, and realized it was pointless. He was fast asleep, and within minutes, I was too.

….

An actual filler chapter. Sorry. I'll post as soon as I can!


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everybody! I apologize for the silliness of the past few chapters. I just reread them, and they're not very good… I was trying to speed it up, but it doesn't make sense for the characters to have it so easy. Well, bear with me for this last chapter, please, and thanks for sticking it through! :) I'll write you guys some Fax to make up for it. Sorry for the huge wait, I've been ridiculously busy with school and volleyball.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Angel's POV:  
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"Max is here." I announced.

Nudge sat up, Gazzy opened his eyes, and Iggy stuck his head through the other connecting room. I sighed inwardly. I loved Max, but I wish I could get the respect she did. Even though I was doing a good job leading them, they still wanted Max.

Well, of course they did! I was six. So what if I did okay leading them to survival for a few days? Max brought them out of that godforsaken place, Max had tied their shoes, and fed them food, taught them everything they knew, and tucked them in and hugged them tight.

I couldn't get close to compare, because at the end of the day, Max did all those things for me, too. So I would always be the baby of the flock, and Max would always be the mother.

And she deserved to be.

But that didn't mean I had to like it!

"How do you know?" Nudge chirped, sounding much perkier than she had the past day. Nudge hadn't been herself at all. Max and Fang were the binding that held us all together, and once they were gone, even she didn't feel like talking much. We hadn't talked at all, actually, and I knew that she cried before she went to sleep every day.

The thought that something might have happened to Max or Fang was more than any of us could bear.

"I heard her thoughts. Barely, but she's here. I can feel her out there." My power had increased, a lot. I could feel people, especially when I knew them well and they were close to me, both physically and in my heart.

"We need to find her." Iggy stated, and Gazzy nodded his agreement.

"Can you tell anything else, Angel?" My brother asked. "Like where she is? And if there's Erasers with her?"

"Nope. But she has to be close, and I can't hear Ari, but that doesn't mean Erasers aren't there. I think Fang's here too.' I said, scrunching up my brow in concentration. Wait, wait, yup. I got it, Fang's mind. It was closed off, like always, but I could feel his presence.

The flock cheered. I did too. Fang was like my dad. We'd missed the comfort of having someone take care of us, and if Fang and Max had really escaped and found us, we'd all be thrilled.

"Let's go outside and walk in any direction. I'll tell you if it's getting clearer or fainter, and maybe we can figure out where they are that way." I suggested. Everyone nodded their agreement.

"Let's do it!" Nudge said enthusiastically. We all put coats on and went outside.

I started walking left and could feel a faint tugging at my mind. I sent out a mental shout.

MAX!

I don't know if it worked, but Max's mind seemed to be getting closer so I kept walking that way.

I didn't realize how ahead of the flock I was until I reached a cross road. Oh well, I just wanted to find my family. I took one step left and another, hesitantly. I couldn't tell if the feeling in my mind was fading or not. A couple more steps down the street, I decided to find out. I sprinted down the street, and realized it _was_ fading. So I ran back to the crossroad and took the right path instead. As I got further down the road, the connection in my mind was getting stronger.

Aka, Max was getting closer. I picked up the pace, eager to find Max.

A lot of times, I came across as angry at Max and greedy, and selfish, and wanting to be leader. It wasn't true. Quite honestly, I just was jealous of Max. Jealous of amazing she was. I wanted to be that way. It was more admiring than wanting to bring her down.

Even when I read her thoughts, I could tell how much she really loved us all. How much she loved Fang, even though she didn't realize it.

And that's when I was really ashamed for being so mean to Max. Like I said earlier, at the end of the day, she would always be _my_ mom.

I followed my mind all the way to a shabby little hotel. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. This is where they were staying? Then I remembered. They didn't have a credit card. How were they going to pay?

That just made me determined to find them, so that they could stay the night in our comfy, huge, mice-free hotel room.

MAX! I screamed out to her. If she was okay, she would come outside and hug me tight and then yell at me for trying to blow out her eardrums. But she didn't.

MAX! MAX! I screamed louder, getting no response.

The rest of the flock caught up to me in a minute and found me crumpled to the ground in front of the hotel, tears streaking down my face.

"Angel?" Angel, what's wrong?" Iggy asked.

"She didn't respond. I shouted for her." I whispered.

"Can you do it louder?" Gazzy asked me.

I shook my head no. "It was loud enough to give you a pounding head ache. If she isn't responding, that mean she's not okay." I said, hating to give the bad news.

Nudge's face crumpled, Gazzy's looked shocked, and Iggy looked furious.

He marched inside the hotel. The rest of us followed.

"How can I help you?" The clerk asked.

"Has anyone come into this hotel in the past few hours?" Iggy asked.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't tell you that." The clerk looked confused.

I came forward. "Please." I whispered brokenly. "Please, please tell us. My sister is missing." I didn't even have to _suggest_ it to him; he took one look at my grief stricken face and softened up.

"No. I'm sorry, but no. Good luck finding her!" He told me. I nodded my thanks, and we all rushed outside.

When we got outside, Nudge burst into tears and Gazzy looked troubled. It wasn't that they weren't here. It wasn't that we hadn't found them. It was more at how close we had been. And there was one last thing.

I couldn't hear Max's mind anymore.

So they must have left.

They must have left, or they must be dead.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.

Fang's POV:

I woke up to beams of sunshine hitting my face. I opened my eyes and squinted for a minute, while my eyes adjusted to the brightness. Next to me, Max lay peacefully curled up on her side, facing away from me. As cliché as it may sound, in her sleep, she looked years younger. Without all that stress and worry and pain and that permanent scowl on herself, she looked a lot more serene.

Sensing my gaze, she stirred. Sleepily, she opened her eyes and smiled at me.

"Hey." She said.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." I teased.

She yawned shamelessly. "Yeah, yeah." She muttered. I resisted the urge to grin.

Suddenly, Max's eyes opened wide with alarm. She jumped up and stood next to the bed so quickly that I looked around for Erasers that had come into the room.

When I was assured there were none, I asked her, "Why'd you do that? I expected to see Ari crawling in through the window!"

"Fang…" She whispered. I waited, expecting some deep and profound statement.

Max inched away from the bed, towards the door, but she didn't finish her sentence.

"What?" I asked, impatient.

Max suddenly grinned at me. "I call bathroom first!" She yelled, and jumped into the bathroom. I was up and running and almost got my foot in the door before she could close it, but I missed.

"Sucks to suck, buddy!" Max cackled from the bathroom as I pounded on the door. I gave up and sat on the bed.

"Hurry." I told her, but she didn't respond. As I waited for her to come out, I looked outside. You couldn't tell in the darkness of last night, but the hotel we were in was really quite run down. I'd spent nights in worse places, but you'd think we could sneak into a hotel with no mice in their 'gardens.'

I was shaking my head when Max came out of the bathroom, dressed and wiping her hair with a thick, fluffy towel.

"You'll pay for that." I growled at her and she smirked at me.

"Oh, I'm so scared!" She teased. "I'm quivering in my boots!"

I wanted to go tackle her, but decided to wait until after my shower. I would wait until she wasn't expecting it anymore. The shower felt great, the hot water relaxing and calm. I took my time, not knowing when I'd have the chance to shower again. After a nice, long shower, I walked out in the same fashion as Max- dressed and drying my hair.

Max was sitting on the bed watching TV, and next to her was a huge tray of food. I could see bacon and tons of fruit, and eggs, pancakes, cinnamon rolls and bagels with cream cheese, and there was two glasses or orange juice on the dresser. My stomach rumbled, letting Max know I was here.

She turned to me and turned the TV off.

"Hey, Fang." Max greeted.

I nodded at her. "Where'd the food come from?"

"Room service brought it up. I told them to add it to the bill." Max replied. I thought about how they wouldn't have any names listed under the room we were in for them to bill and then realized it didn't matter.

I sat next to Max and we dug in. Minutes later, the tray was empty. Feeling full for the first time in days, I turned to Max.

"What's the plan?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "I guess we can keep flying towards Arizona until we find more clues." She said, but I didn't like it. For some reason, I felt like this was where the Flock was.

Max picked up on my unease. "You think they're here, don't you?" She asked. I nodded uncertainly at her.

"We can check a few hotels if you want." Max suggested, but it felt like she was just humoring me. "Actually, you could be right. Do you remember that tugging sensation I told you about yesterday? It's back, and it's much stronger. I don't know if it's Angel, but _something_ important is in this town, that's for sure."

Now that she mentioned it, I felt a tugging in my head too. "I think it's Angel, because I can feel it too." I told her. She nodded, and suddenly, her face paled.

"Fang…" she whispered. I sighed. What was she going to do now? There wasn't even any more food she could steal.

"Max, I'm not going to fall for that twice." I told her.

She just shook her head at me, and squeezed her eyes tightly closed. Wait, she couldn't be serious, could she? What could be wrong?

"Oh," Max gasped before she ran to the bathroom and shut the door. Within seconds, I was at the door. I had an odd feeling of de ja vu.

"MAX!" I shouted and pounded on the door. She didn't respond or make any sound, so I counted to three and slammed into the door as hard as I could, praying that I wasn't overreacting.

When I saw her, I knew I wasn't.

Max was leaning against the wall, curled up with a very scary pool of blood around her. I heard her cough, and the hand she covered her mouth with had blood on it when she put it down.

Well, I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I could put two and two together.

How could I have been so stupid? Did I think that Max's injuries would stay behind at the horrible place we escaped from? She must have felt horrible the whole flight here. I wish she told me! ARGH! She was so stubborn. Pushing my thoughts aside, I helped her stand up and rinse her mouth out in the sink. I didn't bother cleaning the mess on the floor, because I figured that we'd leave soon anyway.

The bed was about 10 feet away from the bathroom door, but I wasn't sure if Max could make it. I swept her into my arms and she didn't even complain, tipping me off as to how sick she really felt.

I put her down on the bed and pulled the sheets up. I moved the trays out of the way and sat next to her, stroking her hair in what I hoped was a comforting manner. It was sweaty and damp, and her whole face was twisted up as if in pain. A few minutes later, she fell asleep. I stood up gently, not wanting to disturb her. She grabbed my wrist, surprising me. I guess she wasn't asleep just yet.

"Stay." She begged. Of course, I obliged. I just kept on stroking her hair and mumbling words of comfort to her. I wanted to hug her tight, but didn't want to hurt her, so I awkwardly patted her every now and then.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I knew Max would be pissed that I went out when she was asleep, but I wrote her a short little note:

_Hey, Max._

_I hope you're feeling better. You've been out for a while, and I don't think you should strain yourself anyway, so I went to look for the Flock. Don't be too mad, be back soon._

_-Fang._

She would be mad, and I knew it. But I knew if I waited till she was awake, she'd insist on coming with me.

So instead, I would go on my own.

I kissed her on the forehead and left.

...

So, a bunch of you a probably wondering why Angel couldn't hear them if they were still right there. Well, that won't be explained for a few more chapters, but don't forget about it! It's important to the story line.

Meanwhile, keep reading! And because there's nothing to read right this second (unless you're reading this after I've posted the next chapter),

REVIEW!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.

**Fang's POV:**

I left the hotel the same way I had entered- though the window. I didn't want to fly down in broad daylight, though, so I jumped and managed to land on my feet. It sent a shock through my legs, but it wasn't particularly painful, just unpleasant.

I tried to put myself in Angel and Nudge's shoes, since they're the ones who would have picked the hotel. As I walked down the street, I saw several possible places where they might stay. I had no idea what town we were in, but it must have been a big one, because there were at least 3 hotels on every street. I ducked into the first hotel that looked sort of fancy and big and comfy.

The receptionist looked like a drag queen. She had way too much eyeliner on, and her top was so revealing I made it a point to look at the space on top of her head, so I didn't see anything I didn't want to.

"Hey there." She purred. I shook my head disgustfully. The Flock wouldn't have stayed here. They have better taste. There could have been a different person here, I know. But I decided to take my chances with the other hotels first. I didn't respond, and practically ran out of the hotel, not stopping until I got to a different, comfy looking Hyatt hotel. It had a pool and a tennis court, and looked like the kind of place Nudge would beg Max to stay at. For some reason, I felt like it wasn't the place. That tugging in my mind was back, and it was pulling me the other way.

I shrugged and didn't bother going in. I kept walking down the street until I saw Marriot Inn. Max had the voice in her head, not me, so I couldn't just ask the tugging in my head if this was the right place. But the tugging slowly stopped, so I figured I could take my chances.

"How may I help you today?" The clerk asked me. He looked to be in his 20s, and had sandy blond hair, green eyes and way too white teeth, his name tag identifying him as: Matt. I was glad Max wasn't with me, because he would have been flirting all over her if she was.

"I'm, uh, looking for a group of friends. I'm not supposed to meet with them till tomorrow but I got here early, and I have no idea what hotel they might be in. There's a big group of them, so I don't even know whose name the room might be under." I told him.

Okay, I might have been hating on the guy earlier, but I take it back. Matt was surprisingly nice and helpful.

"Not a problem," he told me cheerfully. "Do you know when they might have checked in? I can read a list of people who've come in during that time."

"I think it would be yesterday…afternoonish. Thanks."

"Alright, so I'll just read a list, okay? Stop me when I get to your friends' names. Jones, Gardner, Madden, Campbell, Russell, Monique, Ride, Matthews, Sandle-" He began, but I interrupted him.

"Ride." I said. It was lucky they had been at this one hotel,

He nodded at me. "Alright. They're in room 389, but I can't give you a key, you'll need to just knock and hope they're home."

"Uh, okay. Thank you." I said.

It was a stroke of luck that I had found the one place where the flock actually was! I marveled at it all the way up the stairs (I didn't trust elevators) before realizing that it probably wasn't luck.

It was most likely Angel.

In any case, it was good, and I was excited to finally meet up with the Flock.

I got to the right door and took a deep breath. 389 was painted elegantly on the door. I reached my fist out and knocked twice, waited a few seconds, and then knocked twice again.

It was a code, per say. It was a knock we'd all agreed on a few years back.

The door opened slowly, and I saw Iggy's head pop out the door.

"Fang?" He questioned. Duh, he couldn't see me.

"That's me." I replied, and suddenly I was tackled.

**Max's POV:**

Who did that idiot think he was? Leaving me to sleep while he went out and looked for the flock? I frowned at the stupidity of it all. It sounded sort of egotistical, but I was the leader. So why the heck did he make that decision on his own?

He was right, though, and it killed me to admit it.

We couldn't afford to waste any more time finding the Flock. We'd been separated for too long as it is. I could barely climb out of bed to order room service, and I knew I couldn't keep up with Fang walking, much less flying to find the Flock.

So he was right to leave me behind, and right to do it when I slept, because I wouldn't have let him go otherwise.

But I didn't like it!

I didn't like it one bit!

**Fang's POV:**

I was tackled by two eager little girls and on top of them, the Gasman. Iggy somehow refrained from falling on top of me too, I thought dryly.

I chuckled at Angel and Nudge, who were hugging me like there was no tomorrow.

"Fang! It worked!" Angel said happily, and I knew I was right in my assumptions that she had been projecting her thoughts.

"How are you? Are you hurt? Where's Max? IS she okay? What did they do to you guys? How'd you escape? I was so worried about you guys! I knew you'd escape, obviously, but I didn't know how you'd find us. But then Angel figured out she could project her thoughts, and we decided to stay put until you found us. Because that's always what they tell little kids when they get lost at like, the mall or something. Obviously, that's not us. But the rule applies, you know? And it worked! You found us! Where's Max?"

"Obviously, you need to shut up!" Iggy interrupted sort of rudely. Nudge stopped abruptly.

"Oops." She said, and giggled. I smiled at her. It was really nice to see my family again.

"I'm fine, Nudge. Max was hurt and she's still recovering so she's at the hotel. I'll tell you the entire story later." I replied, hoping I'd answered all her questions. Normally, I start to tune her out after a while, and Max takes care of it, but this time I'd actually had to pay attention.

She nodded, satisfied with my answer. Gazzy hugged me and then Iggy and I high fived and half hugged in that manly way that we do.

"Let's go to Max. What did you tell her to make her stay?" Iggy asked. I felt blood rush to my cheeks.

"I might not…have said anything." I said, and Iggy stared at me incredulously before breaking out into a huge grin.

"Well, I definitely will be around with a camera for your reunion." He cheerfully commented. I slapped him upside the head, but secretly, I was thrilled.

Okay, back up for a second.

I'm not looking forward to Iggy videotaping Max beat me up. (I don't know if she can or not. We've been pretty evenly matched for most of our lives, but I'm a lot bigger and stronger now, so…)

I'm just happy that I'm with my entire Flock. Wait, that's not true. There was one person missing.

"Let's go, guys!" I said, and everyone cheered and ran out the door.

Matt saw us leaving and waved at me. "I'm glad you found your friends!" He said. I smiled at him. He was a good guy.

We sprinted down towards our hotel.

"Angel, yell in Max's mind." Iggy told her. That sweet little girl was still grinning ear to ear, as she had been since she first tackled me.

"Got it!" She readily agreed. As we rounded the final corner, I could spot Max outside the hotel, waiting for us. I guess she heard Angel.

As we got closer, she didn't run to us, which struck me as odd, but nobody else seemed to think so. She held her arms out wide and Nudge, Angel and Gazzy collapsed into them, surrounded her in a huge group hug.

A few tearful moments later, she managed to extract herself from their hold and hugged Iggy tight. He hugged her back without hesitating, and suddenly I felt a pang of jealousy. I wanted to be hugged by her!

Oh, my god.

Did I really just think that? Rewind and delete, please.

I heard a giggle…inside my head?

_Get out of my mind, Angel._ I growled/thought.

_Fang, you're too cute! Hug her, I bet she'll hug you back! _She said.

_Get out. Of. My Mind. _I said, a little more rudely than normal. Thankfully, she didn't take it the wrong way and, still giggling, she left my head. Or at least, I think she did.

Max finally turned and faced me. She glared at me and I attempted a smile. Her glare itself didn't really affect me, but I didn't want her to be mad.

"You are such a pain in the butt." She told me curtly. I shrugged, and suddenly her arms were around me, and she was hugging me tight. Tighter than she hugged Iggy, tighter than she hugged Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge combined. At least, that's what it felt like to me.

I hugged her back just as tight, and my lips were hidden in her hair. Taking advantage of the situation, I whispered, "Are you okay now?"

She nodded against my chest, probably thinking the same thing I was. She didn't want to make the younger kids worry unnecessarily either.

After one last tight squeeze, we both let go of each other. I think I was going to blush, but I managed to keep it in check. Max didn't look affected in the least.

"Tell me everything." Max said, and then she winced.

I noticed, but again, no one else did. It was obvious she still was in pain. I don't know how she managed to get down from our room, because she wasn't in any condition to fly, or jump.

"Later." I said, before Nudge could start. "Let's get you to the hotel."

She nodded and followed us to the hotel the younger kids were in. We didn't have any belongings in our hotel room, luckily, so it would be like we had never existed. Except for all that food we had eaten.

We went much slower with Max. Her face was fine, and her actions didn't suggest anything, but I could see the guarded look in her eyes, and Iggy told me he could hear that her footsteps sounded all wrong, like every step was a huge effort for her.

The younger ones chattered endlessly to her the whole way there, telling her everything that happened and in return, she told them what happened to us, too. Iggy was listening to her too. He had ditched me a few minutes earlier, muttering something about me not being much of a conversationalist. Gee, thanks a lot, Ig.

"That's horrible!" Nudge said, after Max had finished our story. "You can turn invisible, Fang? That's so cool. Are you okay now Max? Maybe Fang or Iggy could carry you." Nudge suggested and the look she received from Max in response to that comment shut her up pretty quickly.

Max sighed. "I'm okay now, guys. It wasn't that bad. Fang, show them how you can turn invisible."

Yeah, right. It was more than 'bad' as she put it. It was downright horrific, and if her clenched teeth and limping walk made her 'okay' then I was the Tooth Fairy. But I knew she was trying to divert the attention from herself, so I obliged, and concentrated on turning invisible.

I heard gasps from the Flock and Angel's mouth rounded in an O.

"Wow." Nudge breathed as I turned visible again. "That is so awesome."

Iggy looked at me cryptically. "Tell me about it." He said.

"Ig, you're blind!" The Gasman reminded him.

"No way! Oh, no, that's horrible news." Iggy sarcastically covered his face with his hands.

Everyone laughed, even Max. The sound of all of laughing was so beautiful, it made my heart melt a little.

No, I'm not going to turn all mushy on you.

But hey, I was finally with everyone I cared about.

I was finally at ease, not running or hiding or searching.

I was finally home.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**There's a bit in here where Max is thinking. Remember, this is kind of back during the 3****rd**** book, so things between Angel and her aren't that strained. They're not perfect, but they're okay.**

**So, I know it's been a while since I've updated. I normally try to post twice a week. I'm sorry, I've just been caught up with things. Here's a looong chapter to make up for it :)**

**Okay, people have been asking where Total is. I kind of forgot about him (oops...) so let's just agree that he's been at Dr. Martinez's house the whole time, with Akila. Even though Akila doesn't exist in the 3rd book. And also, I apparently write in Fang's point of view way too much. Sorry, if that's been bothering you or something. It's not James Patterson's traditional style, but I find it much easier to tell the story in, most of the time. Whenever I write in Max's point of view, I feel like I can't ever capture the character just right, whereas for Fang, I do a better job of it. **

**Anyhow, on with the story!**

**Max's POV:**

We were all sitting on Angel and Nudge's bed. Gazzy and Iggy's room was next door. All the stories had been told, concerns exchanged, tears shed, and hugs given.

For lunch, we ordered more room service. Matt, who was still at the front desk, didn't bat an eye when we asked for about triple the quantity of food that six normal kids would eat. Actually, he sent us 6 milkshakes, on the house, because he was so happy for us.

A little mushy, but it was a nice gesture.

After lunch, the kids wanted to go swimming, so Angel had the manager of the hotel inform everyone that it was closed for maintenance while we swam. But as we were going to go, we realized nobody had swimsuits.

And considering that was all had about one pair of (somewhat) clean, rip free clothing, nobody wanted to get it wet.

For me, that was a reason to skip swimming. It was good, because I didn't feel up to going, and I had lied earlier about how much better I felt.

But for Nudge, it was an excuse to go shopping.

"Please, Max? Please? We all need the clothes! And we have money! Who knows when we'll get another chance! Please, Max, please!" Nudge begged.

I shrugged. I made sure not to look into her eyes (for they would most certainly be Bambi eyes) and evenly said, "Fang? What do you think?"

He wasn't as smart as me, and looked straight at Nudge and Angel. "Uh…" he began, eloquently. "Sure."

The girls cheered, and I raised my eyebrow at Fang.

"Bambi eyes" he whispered, and I scoffed, even though I knew I'd have fell for it too.

So here we were, at the mall. Shopping. You know, your typical afternoon bird kid activity.

Nudge and Angel oohed and aahed at each and every impractical little skirt and tutu and dress.

"Uh uh." I stated adamant about this one thing. "You will each pick out a t shirt, jeans, and a swim suit. That's all. No skirts, no booty shorts, no dresses, and absolutely no tutus!"

They both made Bambi eyes at me for a full minute, but I wouldn't yield. Not about this. Somewhat resignedly, they went to the girls section and started looking through the clothes.

"Hey, Max, can Iggy and I go look at the video games?" Gazzy asked sweetly.

"Sure Gaz. Make sure you pick up clothes, too, and meet me in the front of the store in a half hour."

The boys nodded their agreement and eagerly went over to obsess over the latest Xbox game. That left…me and Fang.

Neither of us was particularly fussy about clothing, so it took us all of 5 minutes to grab some clothes. I chose a light blue tank top with a gray t shirt and dark blue jeans. Fang chose a black t shirt and black jeans (big surprise there!)

"We have 20 minutes to kill." I informed him. He nodded at me thoughtfully.

"Swim suits" He reminded me.

Oh yeah.

Ugh.

"Nudge can pick mine out." I said, knowing I would regret it. I was too lazy. Fang raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything as we both went over to pick out his trunks. He wanted plain black, but I bullied him into getting a pair with a few red stripes.

He grumbled all the way to the register, and I slapped him upside the head lovingly.

"Oh shut up." I advised.

Fang narrowed his eyebrows at me. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by an eager Nudge.

"Oh my gosh, are we late? Sorry if we are. I picked out a swim suit for you, Max! Because you lack fashion sense, like, totally. And Angel and I each got some jeans and tees. You'll totally approve. What did Fang get? Where are Gazzy and Iggy? Oh, what did you get?" Nudge paused her speech to lunge for my clothing and tsk at it impatiently.

"Max." She sighed.

"What?" I asked, somewhat defensively.

"For crying out loud!" Nudge yelled, and then she shoved all of her clothes and Angel's clothes at Fang and pulled me away from Angel and Fang.

"What?" I asked again.

"I know you like him. I know he likes you. Shut up, I don't want to hear it." Nudge told me, telling me to shut it as she saw my mouth open to argue. My mouth opened and closed; I was speechless. Nudge never talked to me like that! Ever! I opened my mouth to tell her off but realized she had already started talking again.

"I'm not asking for a lot, Max. Would it kill you to wear a decent shirt? Instead of this baggy tent you probably picked up in the camping section?"

I opened and closed my mouth several times before I realized what I wanted to say. "I picked it out in the girls' section." I retorted. It wasn't much of a comeback, and it definitely was one of my worse ones.

Nudge raised an eyebrow at me, and I was startled by how much she acted like Fang sometimes.

"Fine." I said, admitting defeat. "You have 2 minutes, and I HAVE to like it."

Nudge practically squealed in delight. "Come on, Angel!" She grabbed the little girls hand and dragged her into the juniors section.

"Do I want to know what that was all about?" Fang asked me.

I shook my head. "Nudge didn't like my clothing choices." I told him. A small smirk played at the end of lips.

"Is that really so surprising?" He asked me. I shook my head again. It wasn't surprising at all.

Nudge ran back to me, and behind her were Iggy and the Gasman.

She shoved a pile of clothing into my arms and I made Fang hold it, pulling out piece by piece. I didn't bother studying the jeans; they looked like the same thing I had picked out earlier.

Nudge kept the blue tank top, but had picked out a soft gray t shirt instead. It had a wide neck, so it would hang off my shoulders just a little, but it would match well with the tank top. It wasn't too girly, and I grudgingly accepted it.

"Okay." I told her, and she grinned at me. We took our stuff to the register and I paid for it with my thoughtfully provided credit card.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was close to 4. We all went into our separate rooms to change. I changed in the bathroom while Fang changed in the room itself.

"I'm coming out." I told him.

"Okay." He responded, and I twisted the door knob open and walked out in my swim suit. I felt horribly exposed, and uncomfortable.

Fang stared at me, not saying anything. I'm not exaggerating when I say his eyes were kind of popping out of his head.

"I should go change, right now. I should just wear my t shirt and some shorts or something. I'm going to go change." I said, fully meaning every word. I turned, but Fang caught my arm.

"No, don't." He said. "You look fine. Good, actually."

Hm. Fang thought I looked good? That was a first.

"Are you sure…?" I asked him, still kind of unsure.

He nodded decisively and let go of my arm.

"Okay" I breathed, and I stepped out of my room to go to the pool.

**Fang's POV:**

Damn it.

Max looks really good.

Like, really, really good.

Hot, practically.

And it was sort of distracting. The last thing he wanted was to accidently kiss her again or something. He wasn't sure what to expect when Nudge was going to pick out Max's clothes, but what Nudge ended up picking looked good. It was pretty, but it was still Max.

Of course, Max could wear that 'tent' as Nudge called it, and still look totally pretty in my eyes. But come on, I was a guy. I could definitely appreciate her look better in what Nudge picked out.

Or in the bikini she was wearing now.

It was a white and black checkered print, and it was actually really concealing. So, don't worry, Max is still Max, and I'm not a total sexist pig.

We walked to the pool together; the kids and Iggy were already there. It had taken Max a long time to change because of her injuries.

"Wow, Max, you look fantastic!" Nudge flashed Max a big toothy smile.

"Thanks honey." Max said, and slowly waded into the water. She shivered at the cold water at first, but then she smiled. "I'm glad I let you convince me into this." She told Nudge.

"I'm always right." Nudge replied solemnly.

Max snorted, but didn't sound as stupid doing it as you'd think.

I took a step back and cannon balled into the pool, splashing everyone in the process.

When I resurfaced, Iggy and Nudge looked pissed, Gazzy was delighted, and Angel seemed nonchalant. But Max was narrowing her eyes at me, a playful glint in them that I had missed seeing.

"This means war." She informed me, before using her wings to create a huge wave that crashed into me. I think I swallowed a gallon of water. Of chlorine, hotel pool, probably peed in water. That could not mean anything good for me, so I glared at Max. Of course, my glare didn't faze her in the slightest, but it was still fun to do.

"You're on." I told her evenly, and then I grabbed her suddenly and held her under the water. She squirmed under my arms, but I had become a lot stronger than her, especially considering that she was hurt.

After 30 seconds or so, I pulled her up. Sputtering, she coughed up water and managed to say:

"FANG, if you-"

But then I dunked her again, so she didn't finish. I was enjoying myself, but unexpectedly, someone kicked my shin from the back. I turned to see who to get hit with a huge wave of water.

I let go of Max and soon I was the one sputtering and cold while a gleeful Nudge and Angel held me down. Max grinned at them

"Great job, guys!" She encouraged them. I tried to narrow my eyes at her, but the effect was ruined when I started coughing up water again. Max laughed.

I saw Gazzy creeping up on her from behind and had to bite in a laugh myself. She didn't know what she was in for!

Gazzy latched on to her neck as if she was giving him a piggy back ride. She staggered under his sudden weight and I considered whether it was actually hurting her, but decided not to tell him to get off.

Abruptly, Max's eyes opened wide. "Fang!" She shouted. "Look!" I turned my head and stared into the sky behind me. Wait, there was nothing the- My thoughts were interrupted when Iggy launched at me from the front and splashed a ton of water on me. Oh, my god. I would never live this down. I had just fallen for the oldest trick in the book.

"Not cool, dude." I complained, "4 against 2?"

Okay, maybe I was pouting just a little, but I really was just playing along.

"Nope." Gazzy said cheerfully. "5 against 1." And then they proceeded to splash, dunk, and spray me with water like there was no tomorrow.

**Max's POV:**

Messing with Fang was fun! Especially when he played along, instead of just winning like I'm sure he could against Angel and Gazzy. We spent a pretty long time in the pool, just relaxing and having fun. Eventually, I was pretty tired, and it was getting sort of dark outside.

"Hey, you guys ready to go in?" I asked.

Everyone murmured their assent. As we got out, Angel stepped towards me and giggled.

"I'm all wrinkly like a raisin, Max!" She said, smiling. I ruffled her hair ruefully. (Say that three times fast!) I'd missed this sweet side of her.

We climbed up the stairs to our room (nobody liked elevators) and once we were inside, I let Fang take the shower first.

"You can go," he urged, but I was still sort of tired and turned him down.

"Nah, you go ahead." I told him. He didn't complain, and instead stepped inside the bathroom. I spread out a towel on the bed and sat on it, not wanting to get the sheets all wet. As I flicked through the channels on the TV, I thought about all the different things that had happened.

There were some really good things.

Fang thought I looked good.

We had escaped.

We were alive, and we were all together again.

But I was confused as to our next move. I wanted to continue with the original plan, to go to my mom's house, but what if the scientist's expected that? We couldn't even take a roundabout route because that's what we tried last time, and it didn't end well.

Maybe we could lie low for a while. It seemed like the best thing to do, especially considering my inability to fly for long periods of time right now. We could book into different hotels every night, and maybe even switch towns every few days. I'd be okay for shorter flights. And it wasn't just all about me; Fang was hurt too. Not badly, not compared to some of the stuff we'd been through. And he was already loads better. But when I was absorbed in my own misery, I'd be shocked to realize that he was hurt too, just hiding it.

You know, I hadn't told anyone how much I loved them all lately. It was very un-Max-like, but if we were separated again (god forbid), I'd want them to know.

The Flock had an easy sort of relationship, so I'd never really thought about expressing my feelings to them before. I mean, it was actually really complicated, with tension and strains, but the thing was, we'd been together for so long, none of that mattered. At the end of the day, no matter how annoying Iggy had been, or how eerie Angel acted, I'd count on them to have my back.

Because when it did matter, they were my family.

Simple as that.

…

Fifteen minutes later, Fang was still taking a shower. I didn't blame him; the showers we took were short and far in between. I'd take advantage of the opportunity and take a long one too. So I wasn't really upset.

About five minutes ago, I'd decided to do something. It was stupid, rash, and would probably have it's consequences, but I'm going to do it anyway.

I'm going to be completely honest with the Flock.

Dinner is when they expect us to tell them about our capture. Fang and I had told them the bare minimum, but they needed to know.

Part of me didn't want to tell them. They were still babies, my babies. They didn't need to know about the bad stuff that had happened.

But the leader part of me took control. It was okay to keep secrets when necessary, but otherwise? It just brings trouble. So I had it all planned out.

I would tell them the whole story, including the torture and the part where Fang discovered that we all had chips in our arms. I would even tell them the part about the scientist's meaning to give us powers, and controlling us through the chip.

Why?

Because for once in my life, I was going to tell them that I didn't have a plan. I would tell them everything I knew, and see what they think.

While the invincible Maximum Ride exists, but I no longer needed to put on a front in front of the Flock. They were kids, but they were mature. It would scare them, and worry them, but they were old enough to know.

After everything they'd been through, they deserved to know.

…

Fang stepped out of the shower, drying his hair with a towel. I felt a familiar sense of de ja vu, recalling the events of the past few days.

"All yours." He said, jerking his head towards the door.

"Finally!" I teased. He gave me his traditional half-smile and my heart did a little flip flop.

As I stepped into the shower, I let the water wash away the day's worries. The hotness felt amazing against my back, and I relaxed completely, letting my muscles loosen. I pulled a brush through my hair, trying to get the majority of the tangles out while it was still wet. This way, it would hurt less.

I took a nice shower, but it was short. I was anxiously eager to spill the beans to the kids. I mean, I was nervous, but I also felt like a huge weight would be lifted from my shoulders.

I dried off and reached for my clothes. I pulled on my underwear, bra and tank top first, and then reached for my jeans.

What I realized made me hiss under my breath. These were not the same jeans I had picked out. I picked out comfy jeans, loose jeans. These were going to be tight. I think they were called skinny jeans? They were the same color as the jeans I had chosen, and it dawned on me that that was precisely Nudge's plan.

Note to self: check every article of clothing you get from Nudge.

I pulled the jeans on with some difficulty, and threw the t shirt over my head. I looked in the mirror and did a double take. I looked…different. Cleaner. Better.

And I dare say it, I looked a little bit pretty.

And I still looked like Max. Still wearing a gray t shirt and jeans. Just form fitting jeans and an off shoulder t shirt, but in essence, it was the same outfit.

I smiled, and the girl in the mirror did too. It transformed her face, made her look…happy.

I had never been one to obsess over how I looked. Nudge had done it enough for everyone combined. But I wasn't so fashion backward that I couldn't recognize a decent looking outfit on my body.

What the hey, I looked like one of the girls in the mall today. One of the ones in the big groups, walking around with tons and tons of bags on their arms. Minus the makeup and glossy hair, but I sort of looked like them.

And I sort of liked it.

In any case, I brushed my hair and went outside. Fang was facing away from me, watching television.

"Hey." I said, coming over to sit next to him.

"Hey." He said, looking at me. "Nudge's choice?" He smirked at me.

-.-

Was that a good thing?

Ugh.

This whole trying to look good was too much of a bother.

"Uh, yeah. What do you think?" I asked, getting up and rotating for him.

"It looks…"he faltered, and I began to panic. Maybe the girl in the mirror had been an illusion. Yes, that was probably it. I was imagining that I looked like that. I probably looked horrible, only he was too nice to say it so bluntly.

Oh, my God. I was mortified.

"Very you." Fang finished. "Clean, and pretty, but still very you." Fang winked at me, and I almost sighed out loud in relief.

"So, I'm going to tell the Flock everything. The entire story, without changing anything. Feel free to cut in." I added, knowing he didn't need my permission but giving it anyway. Fang nodded at me.

"You sure? Might scare them."

I took a deep breath. "I thought that too. But they're old enough that we can't just hide all the scary details from them, especially from Iggy and Nudge."

Fang nodded again, accepting my choice. I smiled, happy that he agreed. I didn't tell him, because I didn't want him to get a big head, but I valued his opinion. I really did.

"Can you knock on everyone's door and tell them to come into our room for a Flock meeting? I'm going to get some chow for us." I asked Fang. He nodded again. What's with all the nodding?

I opened up the little directory thing the hotel had thoughtfully provided us and ordered pizza and soda.

"Hi, this is James at Papa John's Pizza, how may I help you?"

"Uh, hi. Can I get 12 large pizzas?" I asked.

"Sure thing ma'am, what kind of pizza?"

"Six of the specialty 'the works' and six of garden fresh, please." I ordered.

"Okay ma'am, just to confirm, 6 Garden Fresh Large pizzas and 6 Specialty The Works Large Pizza's, correct? Can I get you any drinks?"

"Could I get 3 liters of Coke, please?"

"Yes ma'am, your total will be $136. Delivery or carryout?"

"Delivery," I told him, and then gave him my credit card number and the address of the hotel.

He promised to have the pizza's to us within 30 minutes, and with that, I hung up. Fang was just entering the room, followed by Iggy, Nudge, Angel, and the Gasman.

"What's for dinner?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah, I'm starved." Nudge added. Wow, I'd never heard her say such a short sentence before.

"Pizza, I just ordered it. It'll be up in a bit." I informed them.

"Max, why are your thoughts worried?" Angel asked me sweetly.

I tried to block my mind from Angel. "I have something to tell you all. It's about…it's about what happened when Fang and I were captured."

This got everyone's attention. Even Gazzy stopped messing with the DS I had bought for him at the store this morning long enough to look up.

"When we first got captured, we were put on a plane. They took us to a place, a laboratory, but not the School. Fang and I untied each other, and the next morning we were tossed into a cage. They took me in for tests first. I pretended to cooperate, but I was really giving them crap data."

"Like what?" Gazzy interjected.

"Like, they had me run and fight, and I'd pretend to be really tired and slow and then I'd speed up randomly. I did everything but what I would normally do. So the scientist's were really happy, but then Jeb came in. Jeb knew that I would never willingly help them, so he knew that all the information they had gathered was going to be off. He had me locked into the cage again, and Fang and I were talking…'

I trailed off. Fang and I had done a little bit more than just talk, but I had forgotten about this when I agreed to tell the Flock everything. I didn't want them to know that he kissed me. That was private.

Thankfully, Fang gave me a meaningful look and picked up the story. "We went to bed that night, and in the morning, they separated us. They tortured Max trying to make us give up our secrets and tell them where you guys were."

Nudge covered her mouth with horror. "You should have just told them, Max!" She said, unhappiness clouding her normally happy face.

"I didn't even know where you were, Nudge. And I would never." I told her, half smiling.

Fang interrupted her before she could respond. "And then in the morning, we escaped. I have a new power. I can turn invisible, and I can turn anything I'm holding invisible too. We escaped out the window, and they couldn't do anything about it. We met these old lady at a farm, and she let us eat there and stay the night while Max recovered."

I shot Fang a confused look.

"What?" He asked.

"You left out a part." I told him. "In the morning, before we escaped, they took Fang in for testing. I was still asleep when he left, but I woke up when he came back. He had a very…interesting story to tell me."

"They thought I was unconscious." Fang began. "But I wasn't; I could hear them. Max isn't the only one with a chip in her arm. We all have chips in our arms, and the scientist's use them to control us."

Stunned silence.

The Flock gaped at us, unbelieving.

"What do you mean by controlling us?" Nudge asked in a tiny voice.

"They're giving us powers. They know about all the powers we have. I don't know why, but they're the ones giving us powers, controlling what they are and how they work." I explained.

"Probably as part of another one of their sick experiments." Fang said thoughtfully.

Gazzy stared at his left forearm, as if he could see the chip inside of him.

"Why would they give us powers?" Angel asked.

"We don't know, sweetie." I told her. Angel and I had our rifts, but right now she was my baby, and she was scared. So I would comfort her.

"What we do know, is that they didn't mean for you to have so many. The rest of us barely have anything, and at the time, I had nothing at all." Fang consoled.

"Max has warp drive. Gazzy has…gas, and ventriloquism. Nudge can attract metals, and sense old feelings, and Iggy can sort of see again. Fang can turn invisible, and I can read minds, control thoughts, talk to fish, breath underwater, and can swim really deep, and can change my appearance." Angel listed.

"How could that help them in any way?" Angel questioned. I got the feeling she was really just thinking out loud. "Unless….unless they were designed to backfire in some way."

That ominous statement had the entire Flock suddenly become solemn.

Wanting to break the tension, I said, "We can't live our lives in fear of what might happen. We don't know why the scientist's might do this. Angel, you could be right, but I refuse to obsess over it, and live in paranoia of what will come next. I've never let anyone else control or scare me, and I'm not going to start now."

I looked around at the room. Iggy was nodding, agreeing with me, and Fang's face was as stoic as always.

"So who's with me?" I asked, and there was a beat of silence.

"I am." Fang was the first to say.

"Me too!" Nudge smiled.

Iggy and Gazzy were quick to join in. "Yeah, me!" "I am!"

I raised my eyebrow at Angel, wondering what her final decision would be.

Suddenly, Angel smiled sweetly, the way she used too.

And then she spoke.

"We're all in this together."

…

**The longest chapter I've written yet! Phew! It took forever : ) This is 12 pages on word! **

**Anyhow, I realized there might be some confusion as to the placement of this fanfiction. I know I said it was in between the 2****nd**** and 3****rd**** books, but for the story's sake (and for Total's), they all have the powers they discover later on. Sorry if that was misleading.**

**Hope you liked it! Review :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

Oh my, gosh. Was that last chapter long or what? Guys, you should be proud! :). Here's the rest!

**Max's POV:**

My heart swelled up at her words. Angel, angel, my sweet little angel was back. I grinned at her, and she smiled sweetly back up at me. Oh, my God. I could feel little pin pricks in my eyes, but I refused to let tears cloud my eyes. It was a happy moment, for goodness' sake!

I noticed Fang looking at me from the corner of my eye and I turned to face him. When he noticed that I was looking back at him, he offered me a grin. Not a smirk, a huge grin that lit up his whole face and made my heart do a little flip flop in my chest.

"So what's the plan?" Iggy asked me. I remembered him asking the same thing before we originally decided to go to Arizona. I smiled at the memory.

"I have a plan. But I want to say something before I tell you all." I paused, and looked at Fang for reassurance. He nodded slightly, which comforted me just a little.

"You guys aren't so little anymore. I'm still leader," I shot a significant look at Angel, before she could start a campaign for leadership. "But I value your opinions. I'm going to tell you the plan, and this one time only, I am open to suggestion. Because I've been totally honest with you about everything else, and I'm going to be totally honest with you now."

I took a deep breath.

"I'm not always right. I'm not always fearless leader. I do what I think is best and I think you're all old enough to help me decide what's best for all of us. But_, I still am leader_." I emphasized.

"And in a fight, or in a dangerous situation, or in any situation where we don't have lots of time to argue, my word is law. Maxocracy, got it?"

Everyone around me nodded.

"So, keep that in mind. And here's what I think we should do. We should lie low. I hate to be the reason for danger, but I really, just can't fly for long periods of time. Besides, we've all earned a break, so the plan is to just chill out for now. We'll switch hotels every night, but we're here to stay."

"What about the chips in our arms?" Gazzy asked. I nodded at him encouragingly.

"Good point, Gazzy. Which brings me to the next stage in my plan. After a few days, we'll slowly keep going towards Arizona. My mom should be able to take the chips out of all of us. But since we're so close, instead of going up through Colorado like we planned, we'll just go straight there." I finished.

"What do you think?" I asked. Fang shook his head. I looked at him, surprised.

He shook his head again. "I don't think we should lie low. I know your wing's still not healed, Max, but we can't waste any time."

I cocked my head, not quite getting what he was trying to say.

He sighed. "You remember when I overheard those whitecoats? They said that they weren't going to send anything after us for a week or so because they just put a new chip in me and the bone needs to grow over it. If we hurry and get to your mom, we can get the chips out of us and be ready for them when they do come for us."

I nodded, understanding his point. "Yeah." I said. "Yeah, that make's sense. And we can fly straight to my mom's, without worrying about staying hidden.

I looked around at my Flock. "So?" I asked them.

"Fang makes sense." Nudge said, "But this way we won't have time to go shopping!"

I raised an eyebrow at her, incredulous. "We just went shopping this morning!" I cried.

"Yeah, but when you said let's lie low, I had all these shopping trips planned, because like, have you seen how many malls there are in this town? I've seen 3 already, and we haven't even explored yet! Besides, you weren't worried about money because you have your credit card, and we could totally like, buy more than just one outfit each! Because seriously, one outfit's okay when we're on the run, but if we're actually staying in one place for longer than a day, we need to take showers and dress properly and hey, can we go out to dinner? Because I've always wanted to do that! And we can dress fancy and I want to buy a dress for it! And it won't be like last time because we can plan ahead and not order tons of food so they can't kick us out, and-" Nudge paused, and then smiled at me sheepishly.

"Sorry." She said.

Oh, my God. That's the first time Nudge had turned off her motor mouth by herself. She's growing up! The thought was scary, but also encouraging.

"Hate to break your heart, Nudge, but shopping's not on my list of priorities. So unless you have a better reason for wanting to lie low…" I trailed of, turning it into a question.

Nudge shook her head. "Nope." She said, popping the p.

"Anyone else?" I asked.

My Flock shook their heads no, and so I clapped my hand's together.

"So it's decided, then. We'll leave tomorrow!" I proclaimed.

"No." Fang said, at the same time Iggy protested, "We can't!"

I turned my head side to side, looking at both of them

"And why exactly not?" I asked.

"You're not healed enough, Max. You're only going to do more damage if you try and fly." Iggy spoke up.

I nearly growled in frustration. Waiting a day because _I_ was injured was just plain embarrassing.

"Come on Ig, I'm fine!" I complained.

"No, you're not." Fang stated. The look in his eyes made it clear that this was one fight that I wouldn't be winning.

I sighed in defeat. "Fine. One day. And then we're out of here!"

This time, everyone nodded their agreement. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Years of being battle ready sprung into place as I ushered the little ones behind the bed and cautiously opened the door. Outside was a regular looking guy wearing a regular looking hat.

"Pizza? For a Max Ride?" He said, pointing to the duffel bag filled with pizza behind him.

Oh.

"That's me." I said, taking the bag from him.

"Careful, it's heavy." He cautioned. "Uh, could one of you help her?" He was looking at Fang and Iggy. I shot him a cold glare.

"I think I'll manage." I snapped, and I took the bag from him effortlessly.

"Thank you." Iggy told the pizza guy, and then Ig shut the door in his face.

"No tip?" Fang teased.

"Nuh-uh." I replied.

And then we devoured the many boxes of pizza.

"Oh, yuuum. I'm so full." Gazzy said, half yawning. Nudge was yawning too, right behind him.

"Me too. Max, are we done here? Cause I want to go to bed." She asked me. I nodded, and the Flock stacked and tapped and left, leaving me and Fang.

To clean up this huge mess of soda, pizza boxes, and slices of tomato (don't ask.)

Which you would think would be easy, but it actually took us forever. When we were finished, I was beat. I collapsed on the bed, and stretched out.

Fang crawled into the bed next to mine, and we stacked and tapped one last time.

"Good night, Fang."

"Night, Max."

**A bit actionless, sorry. But I wrote a little, and two posts in a weekend is pretty good! Look for the next one on Thursday or so :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Hey look, a chapter in the middle of the week! :)**

**Max's POV:**

I woke up when I felt a something brush against my side. I snapped my eyes open, fully alert in milliseconds. The moment my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized it was just Fang, getting up next to me.

"Sorry." Fang murmured.

"It's fine." I yawned sleepily. Now that my body realized there was no threat, the adrenaline left in a rush; leaving me feeling like any other person would when woken up.

"Max!" I heard an excited shout from the other room. Nudge.

"Max!" She repeated, stumbling into my room. "What do you want to do today?" She asked me. "Cause I've got an idea!"

The threat of being bullied into going shopping again made me wake up really fast. "Absolutely not Nudge, we're not going shopping again." I told her sternly.

Her face fell just a little, "That's not what I was asking." She pouted.

Oh. Oops.

"Then what, honey?" I asked her.

"The carnival!" She said, perking up immediately.

I thought about it for a minute. We didn't have plans for the day, and we didn't have the threat of Erasers, so why not? It would make them happy.

I shrugged at her. "Sure." I replied. Nudge squealed with delight.

"Thanks Max!" She came over and pecked me on the cheek. Then, she ran out of our room and into her's, screaming the whole way.

"Angel, she said yes! She said yes!"

I heard Fang chuckle next to me. I turned to face him.

He smiled at me, and it was so unexpected my heart started beating a little faster.

I didn't know how I felt about Fang, quite honestly. He was my best friend, my right wing man. I would follow him anywhere, and I could count on him to have my back. He didn't know it, but I'd sacrifice the world to have him by my side. He was that important to me.

Lately, whenever he smiled, or hugged me, my heart would flip flop in the chest. I found myself blushing.

When he kissed me in the cage, I didn't know what to feel. It certainly didn't feel wrong, but it didn't feel particularly right, either. But me and Fang…the idea was so alien to me. I didn't think of him that way. Apparently, he did think of me that way, but whenever he made a move, I was frozen.

I never knew what to say! Fang should know that! I'm not good with words, like he is. I can scramble up everything and anything I try to say, especially when it comes to all the mushy stuff.

Luckily for me, afterward, we just pretended like it didn't happen. And we'd be best friends again, just like that.

But were we? Lines had been crossed, and things between us were clearly different. Not bad, but they had definitely changed some.

And would I be willing to let them change all the way?

**Fang's POV:**

I chuckled as Nudge left our room, giggling and shouting. Max turned to face me, and I smiled at her. She flashed a grin right back at me, and my heart stopped beating for just a second.

No, I'm not going completely corny on you.

But I really liked Max.

And every time she pushed me away, and we pretended nothing had changed between us, it practically tore my heart apart. I would pour so much into it, into her, into telling her how I felt.

And then she'd break my heart and say the same thing each time: "I'm not sure about this…"

Well, I am, Max.

I mean every word.

…

We sat in silence for quite a long moment. I'm pretty sure she was thinking about me too, but with Max, you never know. She could have been thinking about anything, and everything, because Max is completely random in a very Max-like way.

I stared into her eyes, and after a few seconds, she could feel it. She turned her head to meet my gaze, her eyes questioning.

I tried to put all the words I couldn't say without making it awkward into my look.

And it must have worked, at least a little, because her eyes softened and looked at me sympathetically.

But I didn't care for her sympathy. I wanted her.

Thankfully and unluckily, Iggy chose that moment to walk in obnoxiously.

"Hey, you guys ready?" He asked loudly, oblivious to the tension.

A few awkward seconds rolled by before Max stood up and said "Just about. Grab the little ones and meet me at the front?" She asked.

Iggy nodded. "Alright."

The instant he left, she turned to me again.

"Fang…" She whispered, but the mood was gone. I didn't want her to say anything.

"I know." I responded, and then I walked out of the room.

A little mean? Yeah.

Whatever.

**Max's POV:**

Great, Fang was pissed at me.

I knew why. It was obvious that he was thinking about the same things I was when we were sitting in silence. And I'm not really sure what he expected me to say, because I didn't have the faintest idea myself.

I sighed. I have a knack for saying the wrong thing, and looks like I did it again.

Well, I might as well go to the front and go the stupid carnival. At least the younger kids would enjoy it.

I took a deep breath, made sure I grabbed my room key, and walked down the many stairs to get to the front. When I got down, I saw the Flock waiting for me. Angel saw me first, and she tapped Nudge, who then smiled at me.

"Hey, guys. Where's the carnival?" I asked. My smile and enthusiasm were fake, but nobody but Fang would be able to notice that about me.

"That way!" Gazzy chimed in, smiling. He pointed to the left, and when I looked that way I could clearly make out a giant Ferris wheel and a few other rides.

"Let's go!" I said, and we began to walk that way. Angel slipped my hand into mine and Gazzy did the same on the other side.

We got to the entrance and I realized it was a huge carnival. It was insanely big, and I got the feeling we'd lose each other in there.

Fang had no such doubts and he strode up to the ticket booth.

"6 tickets, please." He said, and the guy tore us tickets from his ancient looking roll.

"That'll be $24" He informed Fang, and Fang pulled my credit card out of his back pocket and used it to pay. Normally, I'd be yelling at him for stealing my credit card again, but I decided it wouldn't be a good way to try to break the tension between us. Even I, with my lack of social skills, could figure that much out.

We entered the park and I stopped the Flock.

"Where to?" I asked, and I regretted it almost immediately.

"I wanna ride the Ferris wheel!"

"Can we go to the merry-go-round?"

"There's this huge cotton candy booth over there!"

"Photo booth's over there, let's take pictures!"

"No one cares about pictures, let's go to the ring toss!"

"Hey, I bet Fang could hit that hammer thingy hard enough to win a stuffed animal! How about there?"

"What am I, chopped liver?"

"The-"

"OKAY!" I yell, interrupting their chatter. Gazzy, Angel, Nudge and Iggy looked down 'shamefully' while really just concealing their smirks.

"Let's split up." Fang suggests. "This place is huge; we'll never get to everything everyone wants to do."

"Can I be with Nudge?" Angel asks.

I nod my head. "Yeah, and I'll come with you two. And then you three can go wherever you want? Is that good?"

Everyone except Fang nods and murmurs their agreement, and so I take Fang's silence as compliance.

Angel and Nudge make a plan of where they want to go, and ask me if that's okay.

"Sure, yeah." I say, not really caring what rides we go on.

We went over to the Ferris wheel first, and then we went to the Ring toss.

"Win me a stuffed animal, please, Max!" Angel asks me.

I half heartedly throw the ring and get it around the very center ring. The stall runner looks surprised.

"Wow, a bull's eye on your first try! You get two more!" She informed me, and I grabbed the next ring too.

My competitive side got the better of me, and I really concentrated on the second toss. It landed on the center ring. I smiled.

The woman looked shocked.

"Nobody ever get's two! Good for you!"

I toss the third into the same ring with ease, and Angel squeals behind me.

Nudge high fived me, and the woman leads us over to the "Best Tosser" prize area.

"I've never had anyone win this top prize on my shift before," the woman babbles. "That's really cool! You can have your pick out of these animals." She says, pointing to a large pile of even larger animals.

"Go ahead and pick one out, Angel." I tell her, and Angel pulled out a huge bear that's bigger than her.

"I want this one, Max!" She announces.

"Okay." I agree. "Let's go. Where are we going next?"

"I'm going to name it Celeste." Angel says happily, and I ruffle her golden curls.

"The picture booth!" Nudge declares, coming to a stop. I take a few more steps, realize she's not right behind me and turn around.

"Let's take pictures, Max!" Nudge asks.

Oh, god. If there's one thing I can't stand more than shopping, it's taking pictures. I don't mind cameras and pictures, but something about photo booths creep me out.

"Nudge, don't you want Iggy and Gazzy and Fang to be in the picture too? Let's wait." I say desperately, hoping she'll agree.

She pouts for a second, and then brightens up. "Okay, if you promise."

I sigh. Looks like there's no getting out of this. "I promise."

For the next few hours, we roam around riding and reriding the rides over and over. I got over my bad mood and actually was having fun. Around lunch time, we all got really hungry. I'm surprised we waited so long, considering that we didn't have breakfast.

When we go to the carnivals only sit down and eat place, we run into the boys.

"Hi!" Nudge greets them happily.

"Hi!" the Gasman responds.

We all sit down at one big table and order 3 hot dogs each. The one thing I love about fast food places is that nobody cares or gives you second glances when you happen to be super human bird kids like us, and you pig out.

"What'd you guys do so far?" I ask in their general direction.

"Everything, several times. Looks like the carnival's not as big as it seemed." Fang says, amusement clear in his voice.

Relieved, I sigh. I guess this morning's awkwardness has been forgotten.

I laugh. "Us too. I promised Nudge we could get pictures, and after, are you guys ready to head out?" I asked.

"Sure." "Okay!" "Good with me."

"Let's go get our pictures, then." I stand up and dump my trash into the trash can. As I come back to the table, I'm greeted by a very unpleasant sight.

Everyone's still sitting, talking and laughing. And in my seat, sits Lissa.

…

**Ooooh! What will Max do? : ) Wow, she has horrible luck. I know that's sort of cliché, but I like it, and I think it's a good scene. Besides, when you read the next chapter, I'm sure you'll think it's anything but cliché. **

**Review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

Lissa? Why is she here? Why is she with us? I'm really annoyed at her being there. The only memory I have connected with Lissa is of her kissing Fang. And for some odd reason, that's not a very pleasant memory, so her being here is not exactly pleasant to me.

"Max! Hi!" She chirped enthusiastically. "I can't believe I ran into you guys here, of all places! It's so nice to see you again!"

Geez, could she be any nicer. I sort of feel bad for thinking rude things about her and plaster a fake smile onto my face.

"Hey, Lissa." I say, trying to get the right amount of happy in my voice. "It's good to see you too. What are you doing in Texas?"

"Visiting family, just like you! Nick tells me you guys are staying with your grandparents, right? That's so cool!" She beams at me, and I'm struck again by how nice she's being to me. Actually, she had nothing against me, and I should have nothing against her. Because 'Nick' is my brother, and she's my brother's girlfriend, I guess?

So we're like, semi-sisters.

Again, that's not a very pleasant thought.

But I don't want to be mean to her, especially since she's such a sweet girl. It's not her fault that Fang wanted to make out with her.

Whatever, why do I care anyway?

"Yeah, grandparents." I finish lamely. "Actually, Lissa, we were just about to leave, so…" I trail off, not sure what to say to make her leave.

"Oh, of course! I wouldn't want to get in your way! Bye, Max! Bye guys! Bye Nick!" She waves at everyone cheerily.

"You don't have to leave." I say, surprising everyone, including myself. "We were going to get some pictures first; do you want to come with us?" I offer. Iggy and Nudge are staring at me in shock. They both know how much I can't stand Lissa and all her niceness.

Lissa looked shocked too. "Yeah, sure. You sure I wouldn't be a bother?"

Fang speaks up for the first time. "No, not at all. Come on, then."

The Flock and Lissa all make our way to the photo booth. It's sort of small, so we won't all fit.

I stare at the booth, not sure how to split everyone up.

Astonishingly, Lissa takes charge.

"Okay, so you six go first, and then we can do the little kids and then Max with Angel/Nudge, the girls, then the guys, then the older ones? Is that okay?"

I gape at her. So she's not completely airheaded at all.

"Sounds good." Iggy replies, saving me from an embarrassing silence.

The Flock goes in first, and it's such a small booth that we're all really squished. Fang and Iggy are almost too tall to even fit in the booth, and they both had to stoop to enter. One of Fang's arms is around me because he has no other place to put it, and my hand is on Iggy's leg, while Gazzy leans against me and Angel against Iggy.

Talk about awkward. Anyhow, we all smile and pose and then take one silly picture too. When we walk out we're all laughing because we ended up taking 3 pictures, the third when Gazzy let out a famous eruption and all of us are making hysterically funny faces at it.

Lissa smiles at us all. "Little kids next!" She orders, and she ushers Gazzy, Angel and Nudge into the booth.

"I'm not little!" I hear Nudge protest, and I smile.

"Of course not, my mistake. I meant, littlest kids. You know, comparatively." Lissa amends, making me laugh. Okay, if she hadn't been all over Fang in DC, I think I'd really like Lissa. She was funny, nice, and she seemed like she would stand up for herself. Exactly the kind of person I'd want to be friends with.

Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel take a few pictures, and then I enter the booth, kicking Gazzy out.

I bend down so that I'm at the middle height of Nudge and Angel. I grab one of each of their hands and smile for the picture. When it comes out, I smile again, this time a real one. There's my two babies, with a beaming me in the center.

I open the curtain and usher Lissa in.

"Max, pick her up." Lissa commands, pointing at Nudge. Then she crouches under my chin with Angel standing under her, making a vertical stack. Nudge's head rests on top of mine. It's actually a really cute pose, and the picture comes out looking very pretty.

"Aww! How precious!" Lissa coos and I have to agree. Angel and Nudge's smiles are so genuine, so happy that they seem to light up the whole picture. Lissa's face is beautiful, of course, and shockingly, I look good too. I'm smiling, which is a miracle in itself, but my face also seems to radiate and the smile doesn't look as forced as I imagined it would.

"That's perfect; we're done here." Nudge says, and we all consent to it, so we exit the booth.

"Boys next." I inform them, and Fang and Iggy looked pained, Gazzy excited. They're in the booth for all of ten seconds when they practically run out. I'm guessing that they weren't fans of the tiny space either.

We're all a tad claustrophobic from our time at the School.

"Okay, so you, Nick, and Jeff will be in the last picture." Lissa says, and I agree.

We step inside and I step into the middle of my two favorite boys in the universe. They each put an arm around me and we smile.

"Ready?" I ask, and they both nod. I press the button and a flash goes off. On an impulse, I open the curtain.

"Hey, Lissa, why don't you get in the next picture too?" I ask.

"Me? Are you sure?" She looks uncertain and so I grab her hand and pull her in.

"Behave for a minute, please!" I shout out to the little ones. I decide to take the muffled giggling as complete obedience.

"Hey, what does this button do?" Iggy asked, fingering a button.

Oh, that's right, he couldn't see it.

"I think it takes a bunch of pictures one after another, Ig-Jeff." I answer.

He grins at me. "Let's do it." He says. I shrug. Why not?

I press the button and insert 4 tickets into the slot that lights up. A huge 3 appears in front of us. A countdown.

"Oh, crap!" Lissa says. "Okay, quick. Funny faces and actions the whole time. We should move around a bunch too." She commands, and we do exactly as she instructs. It's dark in the booth and I can't see anything so there's a lot of bumping into each other and facing the wrong wall going on.

It seems silly, but I guess it'll be a fun moment to look back on later.

A flashing red 'Please Insert More Tickets' sign pops up, and I take it as my cue to say that we're done.

I grab the pictures out of the little dispenser thing and put them in my pocket to look at later.

Lissa walks us to the exit gate of the carnival.

I walk in front with Nudge and Angel, and Gazzy and Iggy are off to the side. I give Lissa some time with Fang. I'm sure they'd want to talk or whatever. Look at me, being so freaking considerate to the person trying to steal my best friend! Angel distracts me by telling me the some story about a giraffe, and I actually listen to it.

It's the lamest story ever, but I smile and laugh. Hopefully, she won't read my mind and know it was fake. Eventually, after what feels like miles of walking, we get to the exit gate.

"Stay in touch, guys! I'll hopefully see you again!" She digs around in her pocket and then pulls out a marker. She grabs my hand and scrawls a number on it.

"I don't know how long you're in Texas, but maybe we can meet another time! Bye!" She says, and I'm glad it's my hand that she wrote the number on and not Fang's. She skips off to rejoin her family, and the six of us walk back to the hotel.

Nudge and Angel are chattering about some outfit they saw, and Iggy and Gazzy are talking about how effective cotton candy is in the making of bombs. I really don't want to know more, so I try my best not to hear them.

Fang and I are walking in the back of the group, a comfortable silence between us. We get to the hotel, and everyone splits up to go into their rooms.

"Mind if I take a shower first?" Fang asks, and I shake my head no. He steps inside the bathroom and I pull the pictures out of my pocket.

They're a little crumpled, but it's nothing a heavy book can't fix.

The first picture is of Flock, and it's a good picture of all of us. Everyone's smiling big except Fang, who just has his lips slightly turned up in his version of a grin. The silly picture looks okay, but it's the picture where Gazzy let one loose that makes me crack up.

Nudge is wrinkling her nose in disgust, and Angel's eyes are huge, like she's going to pass out. Iggy looks like he's gagging and I'm covering my nose with my hand, my eyes frantic. Fang looks slightly murderous and slightly confused, which ruins the glare he's giving. But Gazzy's face tops us all. He's not looking ashamed or even slightly sheepish. Instead, he's full out gleeful and grinning and perfectly portraying the devious mastermind he is.

The younger kid's picture and my picture with Angel and Nudge are mediocre; nothing special or exciting but a cute picture all the same. The picture of the three girls and Lissa looks beautiful, and I decide that I'm going to frame it. The boy's picture is hilarious, with the Iggy and Fang glaring at the camera, and Gazzy innocently smiling.

When I flip to the next picture, my heart skips a beat. It's the picture of me, Fang, and Iggy, and it is priceless. They both are smiling, and we all look happy, and clean, and good. Fang's eyes have a glint of amusement in them, as if he's in on a joke the rest of us aren't. Iggy and I look like actually brother and sister, with our blond hair and fair skin, even though he's so much paler and blonder than me.

The next picture actually makes my heart stop.

It's one of the ones from the continuous mode. The pictures are out of order, so it's not the first one where we all posed and smiled, or the last one, where we pretended to all glare at Fang.

It's one of them in the middle, and Iggy and I are bumping into each other, laughing. But it's not that that's making my heart stop.

It's what's behind us.

Fang and Lissa, kissing.

….

**Geez, I'm a horrible person. And I'm a sucker for cliff hangers. :) And Max really has the worst luck, ever. **

**Okay, for those of you who HATE Lissa, here's a message. I think she's slightly misunderstood. She's not a slut, or a skank. She thinks Max and Fang and brother and sister, for goodness' sake! She's a perfectly nice person, and I tried to emphasize that in this chapter. **

**But don't worry!**

**Because next chapter will have what you've all been waiting for! :) **


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**I bet you guys really want to know what's going to happen.**

**I bet you're all really mad at me for leaving you on such a cliff hanger, even if it is a cliché one. Sorry about that. I'm really sick and stuff. :/**

**I bet some of you skipped ahead to the page break and aren't even reading this completely pointless author's note.**

**Well, I won't keep you waiting too long!**

**Here's the story!**

**...**

**Fang's POV:**

The day keeps running through my head. The awkwardness, in the beginning made me confused. I realized that I had no clue what Max was going to say. I just sort of assumed it wouldn't be something I wanted to hear.

And I was probably right, but the 'what if' was practically burning through my mind the whole day. It's pretty much all I thought about up until lunch. Max tried to pretend everything was fine between us and she acted normally, so I picked up her cue and did the same. I swear, she actually sighed with relief when she realized I wasn't going to be all moody all day.

And then Lissa shows up.

Where the heck did she come from?

I still don't know what I think about Lissa. She was nice, and pretty, and had a fun personality, but I'd met her all of twice before. Sure, I'd kissed her, but it was more like _she_ kissed me and I was so shocked I went along with it. Not that there was anything wrong with Lissa's kissing. I mean, give me a break! I'm a GUY, here, for crying out loud! And when this pretty girl walks up to me and kisses me, I'm not going to shove her off, am I?

Especially with Max pushing me away every time. Rejection hurts, and obviously, knowing someone still found me remotely attractive was definitely a plus.

But was it my best decision? Heck, no. Max saw and got so upset over it. She has no right to, considering she made out with Sam. But I still didn't think I liked Lissa that way, so it was sort of bad to lead her on like that.

God, Max is so confusing. I thought she HATED Lissa. I mean, I've heard enough rants about how stupid, and annoying, and preppy red heads are. And I'm pretty sure I know which red head she was talking about it particular.

But today, she acts like they're best friends. I can tell it's forced, but it's not fake. Does that even make sense?

I feel like Max has to force herself to be nice to Lissa, but she genuinely likes her.

Except for the whole kissing me part.

Which I totally get, considering that I had liked Sam until he asked Max out.

And when Max invited Lissa to join us for that last picture, I was so freaking shocked.

I'm pretty sure it even showed on my face, just a little. Anyhow, Lissa came into the booth too and she was squished up on one side of me, Max on the other. Could it get any more awkward?

So we decide to press the continuous picture button, and we're running into each other, laughing.

I swear, it was a totally accident, but I totally ran into Lissa's lips. Technically, my lips did.

Okay, that sounds retarded and is the lamest excuse ever, even in my own head. But it's the honest to God truth.

And then she kisses me back, because she doesn't realize it was an accident. I pull away really quickly, and just in time, too, because the saw the flash as I was moving right after.

So then we're walking to the exit, and Lissa's walking with me.

She turns to me and smiles wryly.

"You're not brother and sister, are you Nick?" She asks me. For the 4th time today, I'm shocked. This has to be a record.

Slowly, I shake my head no. "We've just been…travelling together for our whole lives, and we think of each other that way."

I'm pretty sure she means Max, but even if she's talking about Nudge or Angel, it's the truth.

She scoffs at me, and raises one eyebrow.

"Look, I've seen you both for an hour and even I can see that it's more than that. Are you blind, Nick?" She whisper screams at me. This reminds me that Max is right here. I look up, but she's totally engrossed in something Angel's telling her.

I sigh. Is it really that obvious that Max and I have completely screwed up feelings about each other?

"It's…complicated." I admit. Look at that, I've finally done admitted it. I DON'T THINK OF MAX AS A SISTER. Got it, people?

"Obviously so." Lissa says. "Look, Nick, I can tell that Max likes you too. And not to be shallow or anything, but you guys would make a cute couple. You definitely get each other, much more than any other person ever will. I have no place here, and I know it. Even though Max has been a sweetheart to me all day, I don't deserve it."

Again, I'm shocked. Geez, how much can a guy handle in a day?

"I don't deserve _you_." Lissa continues. "Max does. And you need her. Don't screw it up, Nick. Tell her how you feel."

I narrow my eyes and confess, "I have. She doesn't feel the same way about me."

Lissa smiles again. "Yes, she does. She just doesn't know it yet. She's having a hard time admitting that you might be more than a brother to her. Give it time. Give her time. Meanwhile, don't give up." She advises, and for some reason, I know I'll listen to her.

Lissa may not have been in my life for very long. I probably won't ever see her again. But in my gut, I sensed that she was right. Call it a sixth sense or whatever.

So I would listen to her, and I'd never give up. Not when it was about Max.

…

So here I was, taking a shower, being completely and wholeheartedly confused about the day's events. I step out of the shower and grab a towel, and then some clothes.

I open the door and walk out, to see Max sitting on the bed. I know her well enough to know that this is her defeated posture. Is she tired, or am I missing something?

"Something wrong?" I ask.

She looks up at me, and puts another picture at the bottom of the stack. Is that tears I see in her eyes? No. Freaking. Way.

Why would she be crying?

"Nothing." She says, her voice just a clear and strong as always. I must have been imagining it, then.

"I'm going to take a shower, okay?" She says, and then she heads into the bathroom. I grab the stack of pictures off of her bed and grab the one she has just shoved to the bottom.

At the front, there's Iggy and Max, bumping into each other, laughing.

In the back, there's me and Lissa.

Kissing.

…

OH CRAP.

It took the picture?

How uncool. That's actually, really, really uncool. I'm pacing the room, freaking out right now. It all fits together, in a totally uncool way. That's why Max was upset, and that's why-

WAIT.

Why would Max be so upset? Maybe Lissa was right. Maybe she did like me, at least a little.

But if I didn't fix this little problem, I was done for. Whatever tiny bit of credit I had built up with Max was completely gone, too.

Oh, god.

I'm going crazy. I'm the silent one, the invisible one, the emotionless one.

Why on earth am I freaking out over a girl? Max, of all girls?

And I really am freaking out. My thoughts are frantic, and I'm walking around the room like a retard, and I'm probably talking out loud or something.

I need help.

No, not the psychological kind! Sheesh, I'm not that crazy just yet!

I need help, from my best man.

I need help from Iggy.

**Iggy's POV: (D: I've totally been neglecting him.)**

Fang and Max have so much emotional tension, I can feel it every time I walk into a room they both are in. Like this morning, when I interrupted them, I could feel the tension rolling off of them, onto me.

Bad vibes.

Anyhow, I decided to stay out of it. Fang's my best friend, but so is Max. And they need to work out their relationship problems themselves.

I mean, geez, Lissa can tell that they like each other, and Lissa likes Fang!

If Lissa will admit it, why can't Max?

So here I am, chilling in the room I share with Gazzy. He's actually in Angel and Nudge's room right now, watching TV with them. I'm in here, being a loner, and laying on my bed.

All alone.

Wait, Fang just walked in. Wow, the Flock really needs to work on remembering that just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't hear them. In fact, I hear them better because I'm blind.

And I can feel the tension he's brought into the room with him.

Yup, it's thick as butter. So I decide to cut it.

"Hey, Fang." I call out.

"Hey, Ig." His voice is really confusing. Normally, I read people very well, but I can never understand Fang's emotions and stuff. Only Max has ever been able to even slightly piece together his feelings, and I sure as heck can't do it.

"Do you need something?" I ask. I'm not trying to be rude, but Fang's not exactly social, so he doesn't just come visit you to gossip.

"Uh, yeah. A little advice, actually." He sounds incredibly guilty, and even I can tell this much. I wonder what he needs help with. Because Prince Emotionless never needs help, ever!

I struggle to keep the smirk off of my face. "About?"

"Max." He says, and the smirk literally drips off his face.

"Uh uh. Absolutely not, Fang. I'm not going to get in between you guys; you can work out relationship issues on your own."

He doesn't retort right away, which sort of worries me. Normally, he'd been all up in my face about that last little bit about relationship issues.

"Iggy, you heard what Lissa and I talked about today, right?" He asks me suddenly, and I nod, unsure of where he's going with this.

"In the photo booth, I sort of ran into her lips." He says, and I snort. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. He sighs when he hears me do it.

"I'm dead serious. And the camera caught it. I pushed her off right away, no lie. There's nothing between us, Iggy." His voice is muffled now, and I'm assuming the shift of the mattress means he's flopped down next to me.

"Man, you are so dead." I offer helpfully. "You realize that that's the most absurd excuse ever, right?"

Fang looks up and I can practically feel him glaring at me.

"I'm glaring, Ig." He tells me after a moment of awkward silence.

"Hey, it's the truth!" I put my hands up defensively. "Max is obviously not sure about you two right now, and you kissing other girls doesn't help your case any."

"How do I convince her I actually didn't do it?" Fang asks me. "She never listens! She always charges off! I never get to tell her my side of the story!"

I've never heard Fang sound so desperate. Wow, he really must feel like total crap. Suddenly, I wonder how I would feel if I kissed Ella or Nudge and they pushed me away.

Oh, whoa, awkward moment. In my own head.

In any case, I'd feel so ridiculous. And Max has pushed Fang away what, 3 times now? Four?

Ouch.

I feel for ya, bro.

"Fang, relax. I'll talk to her, okay? Tell Nudge too, she'll be able to help."

"I doo wa nu eh no."

Um, what?

"Fang, what?" I ask, annoyed.

He groans. "I don't want Nudge to know! I don't want anyone else to know! You know how much pride I've just ruined by telling you?"

Whoa, okay. I'll just pretend that wasn't a total insult to me.

"Fang, chill. You're obsessing. Okay, don't tell Nudge. I'll talk to Max, and meanwhile, you act as normal as you can. Sucking up can't hurt either, so be sure to."

Silence.

"Oh, oops. I'm nodding, Iggy." Fang clarifies. I roll my eyes. These people will never get it, will they.

Fang gets up to leave, and I'm back to being a loner on my bed again.

"Oh, and Iggy? Thanks."

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

That idiot. That stupid, cheating, lying, stupid, stupid, STUPID idiot.

Actually, I was the idiot. Why did I care if Fang kissed Lissa? What was wrong with it, really? Aren't they like, sort of together from the time we spent at Anne's? I shouldn't care.

But I did care. I cared because I thought he liked me. I cared because he was my best friend, and I daresay it, he was more. He was my brother, but I liked him.

There.

I admitted it.

And I thought he liked me? He sure had kissed me enough times. Or was I just the most available pair or lips at the time? Did he just throw himself at every girl his age, knowing that he was irresistible?

_But you pushed him away._ A little voice reminded me. Not the voice, but my own voice.

I did push him away. But I asked for time to think about it. Man, Fang had horrible timing, with everything he did. If he really did like me so much, he would wait for me to answer. Not go around kissing every girl who'll kiss him back!

I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around me. As I put on the same outfit as earlier, I dried me hair, and stepped out.

_I will not act rashly. I will listen to him, but I don't care why he kissed Lissa. He can kiss whoever he wants to. I won't storm off angrily. Breathe._ I told myself.

Fang was sitting on the bed, facing me.

"Hi." I said, as I moved towards him. I avoided his eyes as I plopped down on my bed.

He came over and sat next to where I lay. I closed my eyes.

"Max." He said solemnly. I didn't open my eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Max." He repeated, and this time I opened my eyes reluctantly.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking straight at him. I made sure my gaze wasn't cold, but I left it closed off. I didn't think I could manage a happy face without it breaking down, and me with it.

"We need to talk."

Aw, crap. "Can it wait till after I grab some food? I'm starved." I pat my stomach. He shakes him head at me, and I sigh. I sit up and face him.

"Okay, shoot."

He looks at me for a long moment. His normally dark eyes look even darker in the lighting, all the amusement gone. There's something in his look- adoration? anger?- that I can't really place. His hair is still wet from the shower, and it hangs in his face, just a little.

He's still looking at me, and he hasn't broken eye contact. Neither have I. If anything, my eyes look defiant, because I will never back away from a challenge.

I'm afraid to breathe. I don't want to ruin this moment between us.

Fang looks away first, looking down at the sheets but then looking back up at me. This time I can read the expression in his eyes- he's determined.

"Max," He begins. "I love you."

Oh, my God.

...

**Total cliffy! Oops :)**

**Eggy or Niggy? I don't actually have a preference myself, so I'll go with whatever most of you guys want.**

**Wow, this day is taking FOREVER to write. Sorry about the lack of things happening for those of you asking for action, and those of you who keep begging for Fax better appreciate all this effort!**

**Pissed that Fang had already brought out the L word? Sorry, but I think it's appropriate. I mean, they have known each other for freaking EVER now, so they can love each other. Get over it. But I can't write these romantic, emotional scenes, and I do apologize for that part.**

**And I'm not mean enough to stop writing here. On with the story!**

**...**

"What!" I manage to sputter out after an incredibly long silence.

Smooth, Max. A boy confesses his love to you, and you sputter at him. Real charming.

"I love you, damn it!" Fang cries out, and I recoil at his outburst. That's a hell of a love confession. Fang buries his head in his hands and I can hear him mumbling. I strain to hear it, and I catch 'not going well."

Gee, no way? –note sarcasm.-

"But-but you were sucking face with Lissa just earlier today!" I remember. _There you go, Max._ I tell myself encouragingly. _Give him a chance to explain. And don't succumb to his amazing eyes, or sexy hair unless he gives you a ton of explanation and a mountain of apology._

You know you're crazy when voices in your head tell you what to do, and you actual listen to them.

"No, I wasn't!" Fang exclaims. I narrow my eyes. Yeah, I'm sure he wasn't.

"Yeah, I'm sure you just fell on her lips of something like that." I snap sarcastically, and his face goes red. It actually goes red. I'm not exaggerating. And Mr. Rock over here never blushes, NEVER. So something must be up.

He mumbles something.

"Uh, what? I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." I retort.

"I did!" He bursts out suddenly. "As retarded as it sounds, I did! And then I pushed her off of me, right away! And talked to her after, and made sure she understood there was nothing between us!"

Whoa.

Really?

"Really?" I echo my thoughts.

He nods at me, his shoulders slumped and eyes tired.

"But-But." I stammer.

Darn it. I don't have any more excuses.

Maybe I could at least give this a chance?

I think I liked Fang. He had just told me he loved me. On an impulse, I step forward and kiss him.

Total Nudge moment coming up:

I liked it this time. My mouth moved against his; I actually was kissing him. This was the first time I'd actually kissed him. He was really good at kissing. Somehow, I find my hands wrapped around him, and his hands are around my waist, pulling me closer. I run one hand through his hair.

I pull away after a minute, practically gasping for air. He hugs me close to him.

"So let me get this straight. You love me?" I asked him. He nods, his face pressed against my hair.

I nuzzle my head into his chest. When did he get so tall? We used to be the same height, and now I was barely at his shoulder.

"In that case," I say, smiling, "I love you too."

-Cue 'awwhs'-

I feel Fang smile against my hair.

"Perfect." he says, and for once, I completely agree.

This moment between the two of us is perfect.

There's nothing else to say.

**Angel's POV:**

Today was such a horrible day. The fair was a blast, and I had lots of fun, but Lissa showed up. I don't mind Lissa, but Max's thoughts whenever she's around are pretty…angry, let's just say. And I could tell Fang was super nervous, even though I didn't read his mind and his expression was as devoid of emotion as always.

I'm watching TV with Nudge and Gazzy, and they're bickering over who gets to pick the channel. Bored, I start reading every one's minds.

I reach towards Iggy's mind first. _So if I mix the sulfur and the potassium bicarbonate, it should create a biochemical reaction-_

Ugh, too scientific.

Fang's? _Max, I love you, I love you so much, I can't believe it, this is great, Max._

Geez, way too sappy and romantic. I knew he liked her, but that was a tad much, don't you think?

Max's? _I did it! I didn't charge off. I kissed him. He said he loves me. I love him. Are we together? I think that means we're together._

OH MY GOD WHAT.

I put Max's thoughts and Fang's thoughts together, and my eyes open so wide they feel like saucers.

"AHHH!" I squeal, and Nudge and Gazzy look over to me with alarm.

"What's wrong, Angel?" Nudge asks.

I clutch her arm tightly. "He did it. They're together."

Nudge lets out a huge yelp. Gazzy stands there, confused, with a remote in his hand and the TV flickering behind him.

"Who did what? Who's together?" He asks, annoyed that he's being left out.

Iggy storms into the room at the same moment. "What's wrong?" He asks, battle ready and alert.

"Fang did it. Him and Max are together." I clarify for Gazzy and inform Iggy.

Both of their faces break out into identical grins.

"It's about time!" Iggy calls. "Come on, let's go get some blackmail. Grab a camera." He instructs us.

Giggling, we follow his instructions and carefully open the door connecting his room to Max and Fang's.

They're standing in the middle of the room, hugging, oblivious.

"Aww." Nudge whispers next to me, and I smile but put my finger on her lips, telling her to be quiet.

Iggy turns the camera on and points it right at Max and Fang, pressing the button to take the picture. But suddenly, Fang's not there anymore. Max looks really goofy smiling and holding hands with thin air, but I guess Fang randomly decided to turn invisible.

Wait a second.

If they're holding hands, shouldn't Max be invisible too? Everything Fang touches should turn invisible.

I open my mouth to tell Iggy this but Iggy is abruptly tackled to the floor, and the camera wrenched out of his hands. Fang appears right next to us, and Nudge screams.

Fang grins evilly at us.

Max comes over to us too, smirking. "You really thought we wouldn't notice, Ig?"

Iggy nods as much as someone being pinned down by their shoulders can.

Max narrows her eyes at him playfully. "Wrong answer, buddy." She informs him, and then she says "I'm going to cook dinner every night from now on, and you're all going to eat it."

Iggy's face pales and he pretends to gag. Max quickly snaps a picture of it and he stops immidietly.

"Hey, that's not nice!" Iggy protests.

Fang laughs. "Neither is spying on me and Max."

Max, right now, is going through all the pictures we just took of her and Fang and deleting them, one by one. She's making a huge deal out of it, too, and Iggy frowns.

"Come on guys, help me out a little!" He begs me and Nudge and Gazzy.

Nudge and I giggle, and Gazzy smiles uncertainly, looking between Max and Iggy.

"Sorry Iggy." He says after a little silence. "I have to pick the winning side."

Iggy groans and lets his head hit the floor, partly out of frustration and partly for theatrics' sake.

Sometimes, I think he's the biggest drama queen of us all.

And maybe today wasn't that horrible after all.

...

**So? What did you think? I thought it was pretty good. I'v****e never really written romance before, so bear with me. Review! :D**

**I sat down and planned the rest of the chapters out today, and I just realized that I've gotten so much farther than ever before on a story. It has a lot to do with all of you readers, the amazing reviews, the encouraging PMs, and the ever increasing traffic stats. **

**So thank you! and go review, now. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**And for those of you who have been begging me to write more Fax, here it is. An entire chapter full of it, just for you.**

**And for those of you who don't care for it as much, don't be scared away, or anything! xP **

…

**Max's POV:**

Wow. So, Fang and I are together. He asked me officially after we had sent the kids off to bed, and I of course said yes. It's still sort of an alien thought in my mind, but it's not as uncomfortable as I had braced myself for. I liked Fang. I liked to kiss Fang.

Oh, crap, I sound like one of those boyfriend obsessed girls. I need to stop. In any case, we were together, we were happy, and most importantly, we were safe. The Flock was okay with me and Fang, luckily. I think Gazzy was a little freaked out, but mostly because he still thinks girls have cooties. ('Fang, don't do that! Didn't you know, girl's have cooties!' –tackles Fang and pushes him away from me.)

Nudge and Angel had been rooting for me and Fang to get together forever now, so they were thrilled. As for Iggy, he keeps saying all these ridiculous jokes about it, saying (and I quote) 'Finally a release for all this pent up sexual tension.'

I slapped him upside the head for that comment, but it didn't faze him in the least.

"What's up?" Fang asked suddenly from behind me. I jumped up reflexively and then turned and calmed my frantically beating heart.

"Fang. Don't do that." I accused, sounding as normal as possible. Call it silly, but I was wondering if there was something different I was supposed to say, or do because we were together. Well, if there was, he'd just have to deal with it, because I ain't changing myself for a boy.

He grinned at me. "What's up?" He repeated, knowing better than to aggravate me.

I decided to just answer him. "Just thinking."

Fang arched an eyebrow at me. "About?"

"Stuff. Us. The future. Chips in our arms. Stuff." I clarified.

He leaned closer to me. We were barely inches apart. "How about you stop thinking?" He whispered, sending chills through me.

I leaned even closer to him, and was rewarded by a slight widening of his eyes. "How about I do this instead?" I whispered, but it was Fang who finally closed the gap between our lips, not me.

I will never get used to kissing Fang. Ever.

My hands wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer. One of his hands was on my waist, the other was stroking my hair.

A little part of my brain applauded myself for brushing my hair earlier that day. Most of me, however, was completely immersed in Fang.

I regretfully broke away, practically gasping for air. We hadn't really mastered breathing while we kissed just yet.

Fang looked at me. "Say it again." He commanded. I pulled away from his embrace, genuinely confused.

"Say what?" I asked him.

"That you love me." He murmured, his voice dropping an octave. I smiled, understanding what he wanted.

"Okay." I breathed. Then, I leaned in a little closer to him.

"I." I kissed his cheek. He inhaled sharply and closed his eyes.

"Love." I whispered, this time kissing down his jaw line. We were so close together that I could feel his heart beat kicking up a notch.

"You." I finished, and I kissed his cheek again, dangerously close to his lips. When I leaned back, his onyx eyes were glistening with lust? Love? Either way, something inside of me was thrilled that I could make him feel this way.

Fang pinned both of my hands against the wall, effectively trapping me beneath him.

"Max." He growled, and I smirked at him. To my surprise, he wasn't smiling. He stepped even closer to me, if that was possible.

"Max." He said again, but I was frozen, and it was my turn for my heart to race a mile a minute. He leaned in so close that if either of us moved, our lips would touch. I gulped. I wanted him, so badly. But I refused to break down and kiss him. Somewhere along the way, it had turned into a competition.

Fang leaned down and started to kiss my neck. I stiffened; it just felt so…damn…good. I was grabbing fistfuls of his hair, trying to pull him closer, and he made a husky noise of approval from somewhere deep in his throat. Fang slipped one of his hands under my shirt and I trembled under his light touch. He kept his hands on my waist, but I found myself…liking it. His hand was warm in contrast to my cooler skin. Everywhere his hands had brushed felt like it was on fire.

To my dislike, Fang pulled away, but I resisted the urge to pull him back.

Fang smiled at me, making me shiver in anticipation. Suddenly, I _needed_ to kiss him, needed to close this gap between our bodies. I needed to bury myself in him, I wanted him closer, as close as he could get. Screw whatever little contest we were having.

I guess Fang felt the same way, because he didn't hesitate to lean in for another make out session.

And I won't go into the details, but I bet you can guess what we did for the next few hours.

**Fang's POV:**

"Hey, get up, guys!" somebody yelled. Groaning, I rolled over in my sleep and came into contact with something warm and soft. _Oops. _I thought, and then I rolled off of Max and into a sitting position.

I blinked a few times as Nudge's form came into focus in front of me.

"Finally!" Nudge cried. "You've been sleeping, like, forever! And Iggy said it's good for Max to sleep, because she's not completely better yet, but why are you sleeping in so long?"

Why was I sleeping in so long? The sun was already high in the sky, the light streaming in through the window. Next to me, still sleeping, was Max. That was weird. Max and I were normally the first people up, and being used to waking up at all sorts of times for watches and good ol' missions, I normally was up at 6.

But normally, I didn't make out with Max for hours after everyone else went to bed. Okay, I'm not a total horn dog. We only made out for a little, and then we were mostly just talking. We had stayed up pretty late, and I hadn't even realized exactly how much until Max began to yawn. Max fell asleep somewhere between 1 and 2, but I think it was around 3 or 4 by the time I fell asleep, because I just kept replaying the entire crazy day over and over in my head.

So much had changed, in just a day. Max and I were together, and that was a small miracle in itself. The Flock was fine with it, which I was glad about. I know we wouldn't really change anything about the way we acted around them. It would just be little stolen moments, here and there, like last night.

In a way, I owed it all to Lissa. Because if she hadn't shown up and I hadn't kissed her (ahem. I mean, fallen on her lips) then Max and I would still have been on square one, relationship wise.

"Took me a while to fall asleep last night." I muttered in response to Nudge's question.

"Yeah, sure, whatever! Wake Max up, too!" She squealed and then she ran out of the room.

Oh, damn. How someone could be so energetic right in the morning was beyond me.

"Max, wake up." I shook her softly and she began to stir.

"I'm up." She mumbled, as she slowly sat up. She blinked a few times and then smiled at me.

"Good morning." She said, her eyes glittering with amusement in memory of last night. For some reason, this made me smile, too. I guess I was still sort of paranoid that she'd run away again, or pretend nothing had happened, or even that I'd made it all up. But she was definitely facing the facts, and I didn't have to diagnose myself with craziness and hallucinations.

"Morning." I replied, and then I stood up. "Mind if I shower first?"

She shook her head no, and then said "Let's leave in an hour. You shouldn't have let me sleep in so late."

I nodded my agreement and stepped in to take a shower.

…

I got out of the shower and packed, which took me all of 2 minutes. I tossed my clothes into a backpack, and then shoved as much food as I could into it too. The hotel had a complimentary breakfast are, and I'm pretty sure they are now out of stock of every single breakfast item. I then tossed my backpack on the bed next to Max's, which she had already packed.

"Ready?" I asked, ducking my head into Angel and Nudge's room. They both had neatly left their backpacks by the door, with their beds made and windows closed. Nudge nodded excitedly at me.

"When are we leaving?" Angel asked.

"When Max gets out of the shower." I replied, and then used the other connecting door to peer into Iggy and Gazzy's room.

In contrast to the girls' room, their room was a mess. Clothes were everywhere, along with bombing equipment and a couple unidentifiable things.

"Almost done, Fang!" the Gasman puffed as he literally sprinted to the other side of the room to grab an alarm clock.

"Do you have the trip cord, Gazzy?" Iggy asked, and the Gasman nodded.

"Yeah, I grabbed it from the phone line." He replied, and I decided I didn't want to know. But we needed to hightail it out of there, before the hotel realized just how much we might have taken from them.

I heard footsteps from behind me and I can tell that it's Max.

"Hey, you ready to go?" She asks, addressing both me and Gazzy.

I nod, and the Gasman follows my example.

"Good. There's too many people around us so we have to find a different place to take off."

We follow Max down the many flights of stairs (nobody likes elevators) and walk out of the front door. Max doesn't bother checking out, so I guess whoever funding that credit card of hers will just have to keep shelling out cash.

We find a baseball field that's completely empty and hidden from view by a bunch of trees and take off there.

As I soar into the sky, my thoughts aren't about the scientists, or the chip in my arm, or even Max. My thoughts are on the wind blowing off my face, the incredible feeling of beating your wings. My thoughts are on the safety of our situation, and I can finally let go, relax. My thoughts are on flying. My thoughts are on flying, and on flying free.

…

**Reviews are like chocolate, guys. You can never have enough of it.**


	20. Chapter 20

**I'm too sick to actually care, but for the lawyers: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Iggy's POV:**

Flying is the most perfect feeling in the world. When we're free flying, without formation, and without an urgent need to get somewhere, flying is an escape. My mind goes blank, and it doesn't matter that there is a chip in my arm, or that evil scientists are after us, or that I forgot to disassemble that bomb I accidently left behind in the hotel. Heck, it doesn't even matter that I'm blind. When I'm flying, the rest of my senses completely take over.

It's like riding a roller coaster. When you're on the ride, and you're sort of nervous, you close your eyes. And most of the time, it makes it worse. Not knowing when there's a dip or a roll or a drop is disorienting, and if anything, scarier.

But sometimes, just sometimes, it adds to the amazing feeling. Maybe you've ridden the ride too many times, and closing your eyes adds a new perspective. Or maybe when you close your eyes, you're not held up worrying over what's coming up. You completely lose yourself in the present, the feeling you experience right at the moment, the winds ruffling your hair, and sudden whoosh in your stomach when the car drops. Your hear screams, and whoops of joy, and then you hear yourself screaming, in pure fear, and pure happiness.

There's a comfort in knowing that your friends and family are in the cars right next to you. There's also comfort in knowing that for just a moment, it's all about you.

There's a strange comfort in taking the time to look at right now, this moment, and look at all the simple, little things you would miss otherwise.

The little pleasures, like flying.

So I love to take long flights like the one we're on right now. I would keep going till I dropped, if I could, and I knew that Max and Fang felt the same way.

The younger kids couldn't handle it as much. They didn't remember much of the School, and took much of the life we had now for granted. Oh, I'm not saying they were spoiled. By all means, they are extraordinary for dealing with all the twists that were cruelly thrown at them. But for Max, for me and for Fang, just being free was luxury. Just being together.

Like I said, the simpler things in life.

Maybe, one day, just the 3 of us could just fly. Without a destination in mind, without speeding through, without stopping. Maybe we could fly until we couldn't fly anymore, and even then we would stay in a cave or something natural, and stay up the whole night, talking, laughing, the way we used to.

I was sincerely happy for Max and Fang. I mean, God knows how long they've liked each other. But I just hope that it won't distract them from our family. I hope that things can stay the same. So far, they've been fine. They stand a little closer than normal, and sneak secret looks at each other, having those personal eye conversations. But they haven't left us, or forgotten us, or anything like that.

And I hope it stays that way.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by Max's shout.

"Everyone holding up okay?" She called. It was the motherly instinct in her more than anything, because we all replied yes, and even if we weren't, we'd suck it up and say yes anyway.

"Actually, Max, I'm fine, but I'm really hungry." Nudge said.

Max smiled. "Okay. We've been flying for a few hours anyway, let's take a break."

She slowly swooped downwards, and we followed.

Suddenly, Nudge stopped midair. We all did the same, and I looked at her questioningly.

"What's up?" I asked, wondering if everyone was as confused as I was or I was just missing something because of my blindness.

"Oh, Iggy." Nudge began, her voice catching in her throat.

What was up?

"The sun is setting over the mountains, Ig." Max clarified. "It's beautiful."

"It is." Nudge chimed in, her voice still a little funny. She cleared her throat at started again. "It is, Iggy. The sky isn't just blue, it's also purple, and pink, a little bit orange where the sun is. And there's not a cloud in the sky, it's just…beautiful."

Aw, man.

"I wish I could see it." I said, trying not to sound bitter. It wasn't their fault I was blind. And it wasn't their fault that I had been thinking about slowing down and looking at life when they suddenly decided to.

Gazzy tugged on my shirt and tugged me over to a small cliff sort of thing I assumed everyone else was standing on.

"Angel, what's wrong?" Max frantically asked. I could hear that Angel's breathing was off, and I could feel her shaking next to me.

"Hold on." She panted. "I'm trying sometime."

Suddenly, a searing pain shot through my forehead. "Oof." I groaned, and sat down. Gazzy was at my side in an instant.

"Iggy?" He asked, his voice innocent.

"Hold on!" Angel said loudly, "Stop fighting it, Iggy. Let it take over!"

"What are you talking about?" Fang asked her, his voice as calm and collected as always.

I took a deep breath, and tried to let the pain wash over me, instead of resisting it. Obviously, Angel was causing this pounding in my head, and she probably wasn't doing it just for kicks.

I gasped.

Oh, my God.

I could see the sunset. Not the actual image, but a picture that Angel had sent me, like a picture message instead of a thought message. I was shaking from the effort of holding it within my reach, absorbing every inch of detail, basking in seeing colors again.

Max was right. Nudge was right. It was beautiful.

It was beyond describable. If I never saw anything else in my lifetime, this would be a fitting last image.

And then, just as quickly as it came, the image blacked out, and I was back to normal.

"I could see." I breathed. "How did you do that, Angel?"

Max gasped quietly behind me, not fully understanding what I meant.

"I was trying to send you…a thought. Except a picture, instead? It took a lot of energy, but I'm glad I did it. Did you like it?"

"It was perfect, Ange." I said quietly.

The rest of the Flock was silent, even Nudge. I could practically hear her brain whirring next to me with all the questions she had, but I was glad she didn't say anything. I wanted time to think, to think about what had just happened.

I don't really know what the others did, but I sort of just sat there, my mind still on the one image of the sunset. Seeing was another thing that everyone took for granted.

Even I took it for granted.

And that's the only regret that I'll ever have.

…..

**Max's POV**

Seeing Iggy look so happy should have made me happy. And I was. But mostly, I was bitter. Bitter at the white coats who took away his vision, bitter that the rest of could see, and Iggy couldn't. Bitter that as much of a good leader I claimed myself to be, this was one thing I could never fix.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when Nudge's stomach grumbled obnoxiously. She smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, right, let's get food." I said, dumping my backpacks contents onto the floor. There were several cans of macaroni, a bag of that mixed vegetable nonsense, and some garlic. (Don't ask.)

Iggy felt all the stuff we had, and somehow figured out exactly what each of them were.

"I'll make soup. Can we get some tomato?" Iggy said. I nodded absently, and Fang said "Yeah."

"I'll get it!" Gazzy raised his hand enthusiastically. I smiled at his eagerness.

"I'll go with him." Iggy said, and I agreed. The two boys flew off, and Nudge and Angel were exploring the little cliff we were on. I watched the boys fade into a speck in the sky until I couldn't see them anymore.

"He'll be okay." Fang murmured from his position next to me. I leaned into his chest.

"I know." I said, trying to think of the right words to express my thoughts. "But Fang, do you ever…do you ever feel-" I faltered, not knowing what it was exactly that I was feeling.

Fang, guessing what I was thinking about, said, "Yes. All the time. Just now, when I saw that smile on his face, I thought that I would do anything for him if it meant he'd smile again."

Iggy doesn't smile much.

Well, that's not true. I should correct myself. Iggy was the funniest one of us all. The first to crack a joke, the first to lighten a situation, the first to make us all laugh, even at his own expense. And he laughed, all the time. Smiled, guffawed, whatever you want to call it.

But I've only ever seen this special smile of his once before. The first time was when we first escaped the School, with Jeb. The second was just now, when he saw the sunset that the rest of us were ready to fly by, not even taking notice of it.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of flapping. I looked up to see Iggy and Gazzy return, bags in their hands.

"Max, there's something you need to know." Gazzy said solemnly.

"What?" I asked, alarmed.

Wordlessly, Iggy handed me a piece of paper.

WANTED, it read, just like the old fashioned criminal look out papers.

WANTED: Information on Bird Kids.

Oh, crap. We were in some deep trouble.

The picture I let Cecelia take was posted below, clearly showing me with my wings out, tawny and speckled in the sunlight.

"Crap." Fang said, and that pretty much summed up our entire situation.

Crap.

…..

**Random White Coat's POV:**

"Here's something you should see, ma'am!" The over eager intern chirped. I rolled my eyes. The intern thought EVERYTHING related to those bird kids. News flash: it didn't. The world actually did revolve around them, but nobody else knew that.

I snatched the paper from him, not bothering to acknowledge his words. "Mysterious Sighting in Small Farm," the headline read.

I rolled my eyes again. "If you give me one more article about UFOs, I swear, I will-"

The intern interrupted me by pointing at the picture below the article.

OH.

It was a picture of the leader. What was her name? Max? I think so. She had her wings out, and the picture matched her profile perfectly. About 5 feet 7 inches, with 'glazed strawberry blond' hair, and streaked, tawny wings with hints of russet and caramel wings, she stood proudly.

I frantically read the article.

"_84 year old Cecelia Green says she spotted this odd figure in her garden yesterday. "No, I wasn't scared at all. The girl had a trusting face." She stated adamantly when asked how she felt. Luckily, Cecelia was able to grab her camera and take a picture before this figure took off. _

_Cecelia says she did not actually see the figure fly. She wasn't really looking, so she was not sure how the girl got there, and when Cecelia dropped her gaze for a minute, the figure was gone. Hoax or reality? We're still waiting for the genius behind the amazing trick to come forward. Until then, post you comments on the Hometown News website! –BY BETTY FLANNEL._

It wasn't a hoax, nope. I'm wondering why the girl would have been alone, without her little friends. But in any case, while the article was informative, I wasn't sure what this meant about where the girl and her family was.

"Rick, right? Where is this paper published?" I asked the intern.

The intern rolled his eyes at me. "It's Jared. And it was published in some small Mississippi town, really close to the one branch that the mutants escaped from."

Oh. That makes sense.

"So put out wanted signs for them." I mused, more thinking out loud than anything else.

Jared smirked at me. "Already done. They've been spotted in Texas, several cities."

I glared at my intern. I was about to ask why he hadn't told me about before, but then I realized he had probably tried to, but I had blown him off.

"Okay." I said, deciding to stop patronizing Jared so much and pay attention to him. He seemed somewhat intelligible, which was a nice change.

"We can't go after the freaks, because the oldest boy's chip isn't set just yet. But we can assume that they're trying to get to that doctor's place, still. Remember that phone call we tapped so long ago? They're probably going through with their original plan to get the girl's chip out." I explained.

Jared nodded, his face serious now that I had started to take him seriously. "Yeah, and we can assume that they don't know that each of them have chips in their arms, right? And what should we do, then? IF we can't go after them, what's next?"

"Yes, we can presume that they don't know about that. And Jared, you're right, we can't go after them. If we can't stop them from getting to Arizona, then we need to take their destination away from them."

….

**I'm really curious as to how many of you got that foreshadowing up there. ^ Tell me what you think will happen in a review or message :) **

**Okay, I'm really curious as to why the review and traffic stats are dropping so drastically...**

**Because it's not really motivating if I get one or two review when I've gotten 15 or so before, for a different chapter. And the only reason I'm posting this chapter is becuase the last chapter was so fluffy and completely plot-less. **

**Anyhow, reviews are like new year's resolutions. Do it, and you'll feel good about yourself.**


	21. Chapter 21

**You can thank my fabulous reviewers from the last few chapter for this random chapter. They inspired me to write in the middle of the week :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. **

**Ella's POV:**

"Mom, I'm home!" I called out as I unlocked the front door. I didn't get a response, which was unusual but not completely unexpected. Mom had been talking about that one pregnant mare for a while now, and she was probably working with it and needed to stay at work longer, and had forgotten to call me and tell me. I didn't really mind, and it had happened before, so I wasn't worried.

I stepped into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. I grabbed a juice box and some pizza rolls. (I'm a sucker for Juicy Juice.)

While I waited for the rolls to toast, I noticed that there was a voice mail on the phone. Frowning, I pressed the button for it to play. Nobody ever called the house; all of Mom's friends called her work or cell phone, and my friends only ever texted me.

A horrible keening noise came from the machine. I recoiled at it, startled.

"Don't mess with us." A raspy voice growled. I heard a chuckle in the background that sounded more guttural and animal than human.

"Or you'll pay." The voice continued. There was laughing in the background now, and I stood frozen next to the answering machine.

"Don't forget. We don't give second chances." There was one last snarl before a long, out-of-place beep sounded to let me know that the message was over.

Ignoring the burning pizza rolls, I murmured to myself, "Stupid prank callers." I'm pretty sure that's all it was, and it would definitely explain all the laughing in the background. Still, I made sure to check that all the doors were locked before running up the stairs to my room. I locked that door too; even though I normally left it open so that I could tell when my mom got home.

I logged on to the computer and quickly forgot about the creeper message on the phone. Halfway past 5, my phone buzzed. Grumbling, I climbed down the stairs and found my phone on the counter, just where I had left it.

I checked my texts and saw: **1 new message from: MOM** flashing.

_From: MOM_

_5:32 PM on Thursday, Oct 6._

_Hey Ella,_

_Sorry, I lost track of time. Emergency at work. I'm on my way home now. _

I smiled, and made a mental note to give my mom grief for it later. I quickly texted back

_To: MOM_

_5:33 PM on Thursday, Oct 6_

_Okay, mom :)_

My mom still wasn't home 20 minutes later, which I thought was a little weird since we lived about 5 minutes away from the vet office. But I didn't really spare too much thought into it, partly because one time I had freaked out about my mom being late when it turned out she had just gone to the store to buy some ice cream, and partly because this geometry problem was really hard and I was having trouble with the parabola.

Why did it matter, anyway! Geez! It wasn't like while the job description for a vet had anything to do with it. I get that I needed to know basic math. But as long as I could count that the mother had 6 puppies and that they were all healthy, I'd be okay. As long as nobody asked me to make a graph showing the exponential weight gain of each puppy and how it correlates to healthier litters.

Maybe that was important too. Heck, it was definitely important. But _I _didn't need to know it! It should be optional!

Still grumbling, I grabbed my eight bazillion pound math book, about to put it onto the shelf when I heard a rusty creak. Great, first the weird voice mail, and now sounds in the silence. My life was turning into one big corny horror movie. Like any of that crap was real.

Moments later, I regretted thinking that.

Because bad karma seemed to be out to get me.

I heard a bloodcurdling scream come from the living room. Ignoring my first instinct to run and see what it was, I forced myself to carefully close and lock my door. Then, I looked for my phone, wanting to call 911.

_Crap!_ I thought, except the swearing was a lot more violent in my head. _CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP._

After I texted my mom back, I had left my phone on the counter, and happily gone back up stairs without grabbing it.

I realized that my plan A wasn't working out too well. I heard another scream from downstairs, and then a voice:

"No, leave her alone!"

My heart stopped in my chest for a second.

My first thought? Oh no. That sounds like Mom.

My second? That sounds like Mom in great pain.

Third? I could only guess at one 'her' whom Mom was referring to.

Me.

….

**Max's POV**

I stared at the paper, stunned that my face was on a wanted sign. I ignored the panicky feelings that were rising up inside of me and instead calmly said,

"At least the picture's only of me. This doesn't mean much. I just can't go into town, and it's not a big deal."

My Flock nodded uncertainly around me; they were definitely unnerved but accepted my logic. If you could call it that. It was a very big deal, actually, because it meant that the white coats were after us again. A blurry picture from an old woman in a small village wasn't enough to make headlines. Unless someone who had gotten hold of it wasn't the average Joe. Unless that person happened to know that wings were REAL and they had been grafted on to six backs.

"It's not a big deal." I repeated, rubbing my hands together. "Now let's get some of this yum-shizzle soup in us, and then we can leave again. We still have a solid hour of decent light until we can't fly anymore. "

The Flock nodded again, and Iggy divided up the soup. Along with the tomato, he had thoughtfully bought us all bowls, because soup was little hard to eat with your fingers.

During dinner, the posters were quickly forgotten. Gazzy and Iggy began recounting this funny story about the time they blew up my alarm clock as part of one of their bombs.

"Yeah, but I bet Max knows! I'm right, right Max?" Angel suddenly asked me.

Huh? What were we talking about? Fang nodded his head almost imperceptibly in the background.

I smiled and ruffled Angel's hair. "For sure, sweetie."

Angle turned away, satisfied with my answer, but Fang could tell that I was still more than a little distracted. He crept over and sat next to me, the two of us a little outside of the circle of six.

"Have to hurry. Now that they know." Fang murmured quietly, his breath tickling my neck.

I shivered. "Yeah, we do." I said. I loved how we could take any situation, and Fang could nine times out of ten guess what was on my mind. Sometimes, I wonder if he was grafted some of that spiffy mind reading DNA too.

"I'm not a mind reader." Fang whispered, scaring the heck out of me. Yeah, I'm sure he wasn't. I'm also sure that I didn't yell at Iggy or Gazzy at all after they blew up my alarm clock.

Smiling, Fang read my thoughts again, like an open book. "Seriously," he protested. "I'm just good at reading people."

"Okay, try figuring out what I'm thinking now." I retorted, while thinking as hard as I could, _pink and purple elephants, pink and purple elephants, pink and purple elephants_

I looked him straight in the eye, which was my mistake. I lost myself in that dreamy dark, and started thinking about his eyes instead.

"You're obsessing, Max."

Fang's voice brought me back into reality.

"What?" I snapped. "No. I wasn't." I'm not usually this bipolar. I just hated the part of me that was turning, I dare say it, girly.

Fang raised an eyebrow at me. "Sure, I'm sure you weren't thinking about how dreamy my eyes are."

And we have a winner!

"No." I objected unconvincingly. "I was thinking about elephants."

"Maybe when you started. But then you lost yourself in my dreamy eyes, and were suddenly thinking about how much you love me, and-"

"NO!" I protest, blush creeping into my cheeks and giving me away.

Fang smirked at me. "But I'll never let you forget it, Max, don't worry! You love me thiiiiiiiis much!" He held his arms apart, which only made me blush harder.

I slapped him upside the head. "Just because I'm finally allowing this doesn't mean you need to rub it in my face, you jerk. And you need to shrink that big head of yours a little, or else you won't be able to bring it with you next time we move."

"Ah, well, if one of our brains is severely lacking, my brain is just making up for that." He says, pointedly looking at me.

I glare at him, but drop the subject for now. For now being the key words. I will be sure to bring it up later, when I have thought up a good enough response to say.

"Just kiss already!" Iggy complains, and I turn and face the rest of the Flock, realizing for the first time that they're all done with their dinners and watching me and Fang like we're some soap opera.

I blush furiously and scoot away from Fang stupidly, like that'll make any difference. They already know we're together, and they've been watching us this whole time.

"She's blushing, Ig." Gazzy cackled happily, which brought on a grin from the master pyromaniac himself. I tried to glare at him, but my face was still way too red to look anything but silly.

"Okay Max, what do we do next? It's too early to go to sleep!" Angel piped up. I shot her a thankful look, for changing the subject so tactfully.

She smiled back. _You're welcome. _She said in my head.

"Let's just take it easy tonight. I should probably call Dr. M and let her know we're coming, because we'll probably get there sometime tomorrow evening. So let's go to town!" I proposed.

"You can't." Fang reminded me, pointing at the wanted poster.

Oh. Oh yeah.

"Okay, I'll chill here and you go and call her." I compromised, wishing that I wasn't being forced to keep out of public places. There had to be something we could do!

"We can stop at the store and get something to dye your hair, if you want." Fang said, reading my mind, as always.

I stared at him incredulously. "The day I let Fang do my hair, you have full permission to kill me, Nudge." I told her. Our fashion guru nodded in true horror at Fang's suggestion.

"Besides, you have the most beautiful hair, Max! It's so blond, but it has those dark streaks in it, and that one time we got makeovers in DC and they put a pink high light in your hair, you remember that? Well that faded to this really pretty dark brown, I don't even know how that happened. Because doesn't the Sun normally make thing slighter? It's like bleach, right? Because the tips of my hair are a much lighter brown that the top of my hair, which is almost like, black. Anyway, dyeing your hair would be horrible, especially because can you imagine how awkward blond eyebrows would look with like, red hair? "

As much as I agreed with Nudge this time, I had to shut her up. I cocked an eyebrow at her pointedly till she got the hint and stopped talking.

Gazzy looked at us all like we were crazy, and he wasn't too far off the mark. "Why don't you just wear a jacket, Max? How likely is it that someone will be looking out for you? It's not like they'll care who you are under a hood."

Oh.

"That's a pretty good point, Gazzy. I'm just going to go." I said, trying not to be worried by the fact that our eight year old was sometimes smarter than the three oldest combined.

"One of us needs to go with you. People are on the lookout for one, or for six. Two is less suspicious." Nudge suggested.

"I'll go with you!" Iggy raised his hand like we were in school. "You and Fang don't deserve any more time alone."

I tried my hardest not to blush again, but my face betrayed me and slowly heated up. "Okay." I said, and we took off.

As we were flying, Iggy suddenly flew on top of me, which was the easiest way to talk while we flew.

"Does he make you happy, Max?" He asked.

I thought about it for a second, trying to be as honest as I could. "Yeah, he does. I love you all to death, but when I'm with him, it's like I can forget everything else, even if just for a minute."

Iggy nodded. "But if he ever does anything to you…" Iggy trailed off threateningly.

I fought to keep the smile off of my face. I'm pretty sure Fang could take on Iggy any day, but the fact that Iggy was taking on the role of protective brother meant a lot to me.

"You won't have to do anything, Ig. I'll kick his butt myself." I answered.

We flew in silence for a while, until the city's lights came into focus under us. As we began to swoop down, I let my wings brush Iggy's, guiding him on where to go.

"Thanks, Max." He said, surprising me. Iggy normally hated to acknowledge that he needed help.

"No Iggy." I replied, truthfully. "Thank you."

…..

**Ella's POV**

I was trying to force open a small vent in my closet. It led to the roof, and I used to climb up all the time when I was little. I'm not sure exactly when, but somewhere along the way, my clothes just piled on top of it, and I stopped caring. The vent was rusted shut, now.

I heard my doorknob turn, and my heart sunk in disappointment. I had locked my door, but it wouldn't do much to keep out bad guys. There was a boom, so I peered out the little crack under the door. Wolf-mutant-people things started crawling into my room.

It wasn't much longer now. They would check the closet right away, for sure.

And they did. The closet door opened and a freak roughly grabbed me. I let out a muffled scream. The wolf mutant- what were they called? Erasers?- clamped a paw across my face. I tried to swipe at it, but who was I kidding? I didn't know how to fight! The closest I'd ever gotten to self defense was 3rd grade karate club. I realized my only hope was a phone. Mine lay on the counter, too far away.

As the Eraser dragged me down the stairs, I fought spastically against his grip. He grinned at me, like I was just a play mission, too easy and my resisting amused him.

The house phone was a mere eight feet away now. I breathed out slowly, trying to remember the moves from Miss Congeniality. SING, I thought frantically, solar plexus, instep, nose, groin.

But before I could do anything, the phone started ringing. All the Erasers froze, as if they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

The phone rang and rang, and I struggled at how futile it was.

Eventually, the call reached voicemail, and there was a loud beep.

"Hey, it's me." Max's voice warbled from the machine. My heart sank in my chest. "You know what we talked about last time? I'm totally taking you up on it. We'll be there this time tomorrow, if that's okay. Uh, that's it really. I just wanted to let you know. See you then. Bye!"

The message ended, and so did my hopes of managing to escape.

It was pretty ironic.

Max was so close, but still so far away.

...

**Guys! We're almost at the 100 review milestone! :D**

**Reviews are like summer reading. You don't always want to do it, but when you do, it's worth it in the long run.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Hey, another chapter so soon? That's right :)**

**Max's POV:**

I hung up the phone, kind of disappointed I couldn't talk to my mom or at least to Ella.

"Let's go, Iggy." I said, and then I pulled up my hood. There was nobody around, but better safe than sorry, right? With my favorite blind mutan following behind me, I walked to a small forest (convenient that there's always one around :P) and took off into the sky. We return to the rest of the Flock on the same cliff as earlier.

"Did you get through?" Gazzy asked when he heard us land.

"Voicemail." I responded. Fang looked up at me, and I could sense an uncertain feeling in his eyes. I looked at him quizzically, but he just shook his head almost imperceptibly. I could sort of understand him, though. Ever since we noticed the wanted signs, I felt an odd sense of malaise. It was a prickle on the back of my neck, the shiver, the uncomfortable sensation that someone was watching me, and that something was horribly wrong.

"What's the deal, Max? Are we done for the night, or what?" Nudge asked, her otherwise long speech cut short by a yawn. I made one of those split second decisions I'm so famous for.

"Yeah, we're done." I proclaimed. Everyone except Fang sauntered off to sleep. We had already eaten dinner, but Fang grabbed his backpack dramatically. Out of it, he pulled a box of chocolate! I couldn't help myself. I squealed. Fang chuckled at my reaction.

"Where did you get that?" I whisper shouted. The last thing I wanted was for someone to hear and have to share it.

Fang smiled, and I lost myself in his eyes for a second. Suddenly, the world seemed like a brighter place. No, I'm not going completely corny on you.

"Iggy." I growled, trying to blink out the weird spots the camera flash brought onto my eyes. "What did I say about taking pictures?" I heard Angel and Nudge giggle somewhere in the background.

"You and Fang making googly eyes at each other is just a perfect Kodak moment that I need to capture and make fun of for life." Iggy replied cheekily.

"Yeah, except you can't really see it." Fang pointed out.

Iggy's face was priceless after his realization. His eyes squeezed shut as he chided himself.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." He muttered.

"Yeah," I agreed, "Pretty stupid."

…

The morning came all too quickly. It felt like only minutes ago I had tackled Iggy and gone to sleep, but the rays of sunshine on my face were proving me wrong. Groaning, I pulled myself into an upright position. I was about to kick the Flock awake, but then I remembered the chocolate I never got to eat last night. Suddenly alert, I crept over next to Fang and made sure he was asleep. Sure enough, his breathing was slow and deep- that of a sleeping persons. I grab his backpack and run into the woods with it. Success!

I pull out the chocolate and practically drool just looking at it. I'm interrupted by a strong, wiry pair of arms wrapping around me and gripping me close.

"Stealing is bad." Fang whispers. I gulp, partly because I'm ashamed (at being caught, not taking the chocolate!) and partly because I haven't really gotten over how close he is to me. My heartbeat kicks up a notch, and I'm sure he can feel it because he looks down at me and smirks. Something about him seems off, but I can't tell what.

"Uh." I say smartly. How's that for coherent thoughts? I shake my head, trying to clear it. "Uh, sorry? But you were planning on sharing anyways, right?"

"No. I just wanted you to watch me eat it, all by myself, piece by piece."

I frown at him for a second, but then realize he's kidding. Grinning, I slip out of his embrace.

"Fang's too much of a gentleman to hog all his chocolate like that." I tease. Fang growls at me, frustrated. I smile. I love annoying people. I consider it a hobby of mine. Then Fang smiles, except this is more of an animalistic snarl. His teeth seem to grow longer; his hairs multiply into a shaggy mess. I am frozen in shock. Seconds later, a fully formed Eraser stands in front of me.

"Fang might be a gentleman. But I'm not." And then he lunges for me.

Instinct takes over, and I'm roundhouse kicking before I even register what's going on. I feel air rushing at my neck and turn and catch a punch in the air. Still holding his fist, I cock my wrist back and send as much force as I can at his face. A well placed shove on his part sends me falling to the ground, but I grab hold of the tail of his shirt, taking him down with me. Tears from anger, confusion, and pain stream down my face as I manage to roll over and pin the Eraser to the ground. I knee him in the place where the sun doesn't shine, and he grunts in pain.

"What are you?" I spit, trying to sound braver then I feel.

"Max." Fang's voice comes from the Eraser's mouth. The soft melody of my boyfriend's voice sounds so out of place coming from that wide, foaming muzzle. Slowly, though, the things morphs back into Fang. "What are you talking about? It's me."

I'm crying even harder. I know I need to kill this abomination, I know that it's not really Fang, but I can't. After you kiss someone, after you love someone, after you put your whole and complete trust in someone, you can't look at them as a target to kill. And then I make my first mistake. I hesitate.

Eraser Fang jumps up at me, tackling me. I'm thrashing around, punching, kicking, jabbing randomly, but in my head, I know I can't win. I've lost control, both physically and mentally, which doesn't just hold me back- it disqualifies me from the race all together.

Somewhere along the fight, Eraser Fang morphs back into Eraser form. In the back of my mind, I thank god for this small miracle, that I don't have to die at the hands of my boyfriend- of my best friend. That is my worst nightmare. He pins me down, grinning.

"No, no, please." I murmur. I'm not really sure what I'm asking for. My own voice sounds foreign to me, much more broken and helpless than I would have liked it to be. The Eraser grins in response.

Finally, he takes a claw and rakes it across my face. Blackness.

…

**Fang's POV:**

I wake up to Max's constant thrashing. She was in her normal sleeping position, to my right, except she was sweating and fidgeting a lot. She groaned once, and went momentarily limp, only to start crying.

"No, no, please." She whispers, her voice sounding so vulnerable and broken it hurt me just to hear it. I was up in an instant, cradling Max in my arms, trying to calm her.

"Max, Max, Max." I crooned softly, rubbing her back in soothing circles. Nothing I did helped, though, and Max was still shaking like a leaf. It must be a nightmare, I decide, and a horrible one at that. For one second, I wish to know what it is, wish to be able to read her mind, but I dismiss the thought.

It's Max's business and hers only. It's not like Max could control what she dreamed, and if it were me in the same situation, I'm not sure I'd want anyone to know I was weak. Not that Max was, I was just saying…argh, I don't even know.

I wasn't trying to call Max weak, just trying to say that she was at her weakest point, and it wasn't something I'd want to know without her permission.

I don't know how long I just sat there, hugging Max. The Sun wasn't even up yet, so I really couldn't measure time. After a really long time, Max stopped moving around so much. About ten minutes later, she woke up, and I sighed in relief. She was okay.

"Fang?" Max asked cautiously.

"Hey. You okay?"

Max eyed me suspiciously. "Depends on who's asking."

"Max? What are you talking about? It's me." I say, completely confused.

Max gasps and pushes herself away from me with her hands, stumbling. I have to admit, it sort of hurts to see her crawl away from me like that, like I'm going to hurt her.

"Don't touch me!" Max spat, sounding more bitter than I've ever heard before. I recoil in surprise. She's never used that tone with me before.

"Max?" I scoot closer to her slowly, like I would approach a wounded animal.

Her eyes blazed, just for a second, but then her voice cracks and tears start to stream down her face. Oh, no.

"No, no, please." She whispers, and I feel an odd sense of de ja vu. My mind flashes back to her nightmare just moments ago, when she had uttered those very words.

"Your time is up, Ride." I hear a voice growl. I jump, and look around frantically, but we're alone except for a sleeping flock. I was surprised none of them had woken up yet.

"You'll play by our rules, or you won't play at all." My heart sinks to my stomach as I realize something sickening. It was _me_ saying those words, only not really me. My hands had transformed into paws, and my teeth into fangs. I was turning into an Eraser, and I had no control over my body. I was forced to fight Max, not feeling the battle, not feeling the pain, not feeling anything but horror.

Eventually, Eraser-me had Max pinned down by the throat. I feel my face contort into a grin. Suddenly, I'm a spectator, watching from a third person view, even though I can still feel that the Eraser is me. I'm frozen, though. Frozen as Max slumps in defeat. Frozen as I hear her brokenly say those same words, the ones I've heard before. Frozen as Eraser-me rakes a paw across her neck.

She stops breathing.

Unfrozen. I scream and run over to Max, not in 3rd person anymore. I'm still Eraser Fang. I cradle her cold face, her beautiful face in my arms.

"Max, Max, Max." I croon, not unlike before. Except this time, my worst nightmare has come true. Max is dead. Worse, I was the one to kill her.

In that moment, I feel nothing but grief, but it is enough. Enough to strike me to the ground, to choke me, overwhelm me, consume me.

In a split second, I reach up and snap my own neck, surprised that I'm back to me-me, instead of Eraser-me. For one, blessed moment, I feel nothing. Then, blackness.

…..

**Mwahaha. How many of you are completely confused? Don't worry, it'll all be explained. Eventually. Not sure if it'll happen in next chapter or not. **

**Meanwhile, review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Sorry for leaving you all hanging with that last chapter. I haven't updated in a while, oops! Anyway, this chapter doesn't clear any of it up, and might just make you more confused/angry, so if you want to wait to read it till I put the next chapter up, go ahead. **

**A few people were asking, so here's the deal. When I first started writing this story, I planned for about 25 chapters. As I wrote it, though, I added bits and pieces and details, and didn't always get through everything I needed to in a chapter. Last chapter and this one weren't even on my original plan, but I thought of a cool idea, so now I'm adding it to the story. I think you can expect around 30 chapters, give or take a few. I'll keep you posted :)**

**Angel's POV:**

Being a mind reader is one of the best things in the world. Not only is it great to be able to know what everyone's thinking so I can be totally informed, but it's also pretty helpful in a fight. The times mind reading is a pain is far and in between- but this is one of them. When other people have really, really strong dreams, good or bad, they wake me up.

I guess Max and Fang were having nightmares tonight, because I woke up to two videos playing in my head, as well as a killer migraine. I tune the dreams out of my mind. It's pretty rude to creep, and if it's scaring Max, I probably don't want to know.

I force myself to actually get up, instead of just laying there, wide awake. I sit up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. When my eyes finally adjust to the light, I see everyone lying around the same way we fell asleep. Shouldn't someone have been on watch? I decide that the awkward position Fang is in must be because he fell asleep on watch.

This bugs me, because all of us are trained to never fall asleep unless we want to, and ever since one incident where we were awoken by Erasers and white coats, nobody ever falls asleep on watch. Regular me might have paid closer attention to this, but I was sort of sleepy, from just waking up, tired, and still had a head splitting migraine.

I thought about what to do, since no one else was up, and the sun was barely beginning to lick the horizon. Then I noticed something odd. Max has blood on her face.

It wasn't really odd, because it was a lot more uncommon for Max to not have dirt or mud or blood on her face. But I still went closer to look at her, since the one thing Max was practically OCD about was making sure she didn't have blood on her face. She didn't mind it if we were flying, or anywhere else on her body, but on her face while she was sleeping was a big no-no.

The minute I peered over her, my heart sank to my stomach and I was on my knees in an instant. Max wasn't breathing. I couldn't pick up any thoughts from her. More to humor myself than anything else, I leaned down and pressed an ear to her chest. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

I felt nothing, at first. It was just shock. There was no way Max wasn't still here with us. No. Freaking. Way. She was our leader, our friend, our mother. The one who'd led the way escaping from those freaks, the one who'd give herself up in an instant if it meant the rest of us would survive.

My brain thought all of this through, and was practically screaming at my eyes to cry, at my voice to scream, at every part of me to REACT in anyway. I was frozen at Max's side, still stunned. This was…practically my worst nightmare.

I've always wanted to lead. Max leads too much with her heart, and Fang too little. I'm pretty sure I could find a good balance, and could do a good job. But that didn't mean I wanted Max to go! I needed her, I was her baby. She was always supposed to help me through. She promised.

This is when the wave of grief hits me. It starts with a few stray tears dripping down my cheeks. Eventually, sobs are heaving though my body, tears cascading down my face. Max is the closest thing I've ever had to mother. And now she was gone.

I don't know how long I sit there, crying, weeping, begging with Max, with God, with everyone like it'll make any difference. I've never really been religious, but for one of the first times in my life, I pray. There's not exactly a set of instructions, so I don't know if I'm doing it right, but I think, _Dear God. Don't do this to me, please. Maybe I haven't been the nicest person, but if you bring Max back to me, I swear I will make an effort. Please, god. _

My eyes widen as I realize something new. Max wouldn't just drop dead, randomly. I frantically comb her body, trying to figure out what could have caused her demise. I see bruises, scars, freshly oozing battle wounds. They're all signs of a recent fight. But who or what could have done it?

I look around wildly, practically hysterical at this point, when Fang's body slaps me in the face.

No, not literally.

But how could I have been so stupid? Fang was on watch. He would never fall asleep on watch. He suffers from freaking insomnia most of the time! I rush over to him, and although I have already guessed, it does nothing to prepare me from the most gruesome sight. Fang is dead, too. Except he's been choked to death, and I can tell by the dark bruising in the shape of fingers around his neck. His face, though, is harder to read. It doesn't look upset, or angry, or even surprised. It looks…content? I daresay it, it looks happy.

Which thoroughly confuses me further. If Max is the leader we follow, the unstable, ever changing in charge, then Fang is the rock we rely on, whether for physical or emotional support. Finding both of them gone, in one day, at one time, is more than I can handle.

I guess I get my wish after all. I get to lead the Flock, since Max and her second in command are both dead. But it does nothing to ease my grief. If anything, it makes it worse. I'm not really the demonic, calculating trickster everyone expects of me. I love my family. Just how much I relied on them I didn't realize until just now.

In front of my very eyes, Max's and Fang's bodies begin to disintegrate. They were literally disappearing before me. I snatched on the Fang's shirt, helpless against this unseen force, but all that remains is one small, intricately carved knife Fang found in the woods yesterday. I pick it up with one hand.

"Angel?" I hear a voice from behind me. I turn to see my brother.

"Will you stand behind me, Gazzy?" I ask him. His eyes widen at my appearance. I realize how haggard I must look, tear streaked face, ripped clothes, dagger in my hand.

"Angel, what have you done!" He shouts, more yelling at me than asking.

I turn back again, not sure as to what he means. Behind me, instead of the empty grassy clearing there was moments before, is a graveyard. Of bodies.

Right on top of the pile, lay Max and Fang, both of them clearly stabbed to death. My stomach churns, and I look down at the knife I have just picked up. There is a glistening, shiny drop of blood on the end. I squeeze my eyes, hating how this makes me look. I didn't kill Max and Fang! I didn't kill anyone! I woke up and they were dead and then they disappeared and now they're back again, as if it's all some elaborate scheme to make me seem like the villain!

"Gazzy, I didn't-" I am cut off by his furious yell.

"NO!"

"Gazzy, I'm so, so sorry." I whisper, fully intending my apology. He is so hurt, so beyond hurt, and I don't know what to do. The look of disgust my own brother holds for me is gut-wrenching. I hate it, just like I hate this day. I'm still completely clueless as to what's going on, but suddenly, I am not in control of my body anymore.

My face contorts into a horrible grimace, and I throw the knife a Gazzy. He watched, open mouthed, as it sinks into his heart. A heartbeat later, we both crumple to the ground.

"I'm sorry." I repeat.

Blackness.

…..

**Iggy's POV:**

I wake up and the birds are chirping, and la de do dah, and there's probably a pretty little stream gushing somewhere and I need to go skip and pick flowers in the meadow now.

I open my eyes and then close them instantly. Even though I'm blind, sunlight can hurt my eyes.

I don't hear anyone else up, so I whisper, "Max?"

"Iggy! Help!" I hear Max's voice shout. I've never heard her sound so utterly scared. I sprint as fast as I can towards my right, where I can distantly make out the voice.

"IGGY! Iggy, please!"

I still running, waiting for her voice to sound closer to me, to help me gauge how far and where I need to go.

I hear to my left, "Iggy, help me, please."

I run in the other direction. Did I hear it wrong? Did I mistake the tracking of her voice.

To the right again, to the front, from above, from everywhere at once, I hear, "Iggy! Iggy! Iggy!"

I need to help Max. I need to. I can't make out where she is, though.

"MAX!" I scream. "Where are you?"

"Iggy." I hear her whisper, and suddenly she's right at my feet. I drop down and try to find her pulse. I grab her wrist, and I then pale noticeably at the speed it's going. It's too fast, even for our advanced body systems. I can feel blood. Oh no, where is the blood coming from?

"Max! I need you to tell me what's wrong!" I'm in hysterics.

I can feel her smile up at me. It's a sad smile, an its-too-late sort of smile. She grabs my hand and puts it at her lips, probably so I can feel her smile.

"Love you all Ig. Tell them that, okay?"

"NO! Max, what's wrong?" I repeat myself over, and over, waiting for a response, hating my blindness for making me incapable of helping my own family.

Then it hits me. Max isn't choosing not to reply.

Max can't reply.

Because Max is dead.

….

**Nope, haven't explained all this craziness yet. Have you ever watched the movie, the Butterfly Effect? It's really good, starring Ashton Kutcher, I think. It's sort of similar to what going on right now. Only, it's really different. I promise it'll all make sense next chapter, guys! Sorry if this was really gory, or whatever. **

**I'm going to try to update one more time before the week starts, so I don't leave you guys hanging again.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Okay, everything's explained in this chapter. Kudos to the many of you who already have a pretty good guess of what's going on.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

I woke up, my body extremely tired. You know how sometimes you have to stay up really late, and you only get two hours of sleep, and you wish you had just not slept at all because all the two hours of 'rest' did was make you more tired? It was like that, only a hundred times worse, because I was used to weird sleeping patterns and getting odd hours of sleep.

Hold on. Pause, and reread that first sentence again.

I woke up.

There are so many things wrong with that sentence. Why am I not dead? I should be dead? Not that I want to be, but this was disorienting, to still be alive. Maybe I wasn't alive. Maybe this was heaven. Or maybe this was the afterlife. Maybe I was a ghost.

To test this last theory, I glared at a squirrel too close for its own good, and shooed it away with my finger. It completely freaked out, and ran away.

One suspicion down, twenty billion more to go. At least I could rule out being a ghost. Unless, squirrels could see ghosts. Then I might still be a ghost.

Ah, crap. I'm over thinking this. I'm either alive, or dead, and I'm pretty sure I'm alive.

Let's just accept that I'm alive. Humor me, for just a second. If I'm alive, does that mean I dreamed the events from last night/morning? Is Fang really an Eraser? Or was there just an Eraser Fang in my nightmare, to scare me? Or maybe Erasers had a new power, and they could shape shift.

This was so. Freaking. Confusing!

Which was probably the point. I never just had regular dreams. They were either sent to me by the white coats, forced upon me by Angel, or something my body cooked up to freak me out. As if I'm not paranoid enough, already.

But in any case, in my dream, or in last night's events, Fang had turned into an Eraser. My Fang. My best friend, my boyfriend, my right wing man. I couldn't even tell that something was awkward or different about him. Are the white coats advanced enough to perfectly mimic him like that?

They did clone me, so maybe they could. But this wasn't a clone. This was a shape shifter. Was there such a mythological creature? Maybe, right after I got off my unicorn, climbed a rainbow and got my gold from a leprechaun.

Okay, it's not that farfetched. If wings can be grafted on to a kid's back so they can fly, I'm not really in a position to judge, am I?

But if I couldn't trust Fang, I couldn't trust anyone. Not even myself.

Pretty nice way to start the day, huh?

**Fang's POV:**

I woke up. This is a miracle in itself, since I should be dead, and I'd want to be dead, if not for the fact that Max lays beside me as always, still in a peaceful slumber.

Was it a nightmare? A premonition? A mutant's version of Groundhog's Day? I had a flashback to Jeb and Anne explaining that they had simulated the life we had been living, except we escaped from the school and we obviously were living the same life. But could they have actually succeeded in doing it? Was last night a simulation, or was right now?

Maybe I was already dead. Maybe this was my version of Heaven and Hell, what I deserved. A little bit of both.

Max was stirring next to me. When she finally opened her eyes, we stared at each other coolly. Not meanly, or coldly, but sort of guarded, like we both weren't comfortable with each other.

"Max."

"Fang."

It was the exchange you'd expect from strangers, or perhaps polite enemies. Not from best friends. Max knew something was wrong. Exactly how much, I wasn't sure.

I didn't know what to do. I wanted to bring up what is happening to me, tell her to run away from me and stay away, because I don't trust myself. But my heart doesn't want her to run; it won't let me tell her like that. Selfishly, I want to keep her close to me, to be near her. The back of my mind wonders if this too is my emotion, or the Eraser inside me's emotion.

But then I dismiss the thought. I've felt that way about Max forever now. Since I started noticing the little things about her. Since I realized I was worried about her in a fight, even though she could kick bad guy butt from here to ...since even before I had gotten a new chip in my arm.

The thought hits me like a slap in my face.

"The chip!" I exclaim, and Max narrows her eyes at me.

"Fang?" She repeats, except this time it's a question.

"Yeah, it's me. Me me, not Eraser me." I say, not worried about seeming silly anymore. If she didn't understand me, then I would explain it. But I'd rather blurt it out like this then hide it and suffer the consequences later.

"What was your first confession of love to me?" She's still looking at me like I might turn into a wolf any moment. Which, in her defense, was totally possible.

She's quizzing me. That's something only I would know, since it's private. The chips weren't cameras, obviously, or tracers, or we wouldn't be on the run, we'd be in captivity. So the white coats had no way of knowing this one.

"I love you." I said, smiling. "I love you, damn it!"

Max visible relaxes. She runs into my arms, which I'm sort of nervous about, since I'm still not sure if I trust myself.

"Thank god." She whispers. "I felt like I was going crazy."

"Going?" I tease. "You weren't already?"

She grins again, and slaps me upside the head. We hug for another moment, just happy that we're both alive and together and hopefully ourselves. One more thing that I can never take for granted ever again.

"Ow." Max mutter suddenly, and I let go of her immediately.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Voice." She mumbles darkly, before sitting Indian style on the ground and furrowing her brow in concentration. It's really sort of cute, because her eyebrows scrunch up and nose wrinkles just a bit.

While she's in conversation, the rest of the Flock wakes up. They're all uncharacteristically quiet, even Nudge. We've all had bad dreams. Nudge and Gazzy seems the least affected, but Angel and Iggy look pretty freaked out. Maybe they died in their night mares. Maybe they killed someone they loved. Maybe they watched someone die. All of our worst night mares have to do with losing each other.

For years and years, for our entire lives, all we've had is one another. I don't want that bond, that trust, to break now.

Who would want that, though, are the white coats. We'd be a lot easier to kill off one by one. Or capture, or experiment, or whatever those sick freaks have planned for us next.

Max stands up again. We all hold our breath, waiting for her to talk.

"Can I trust you?" She asks simply.

She asks it simply, but I can't answer it in the same way. I think about it for a second, before I decide to answer honestly.

"I don't know. I'd like to thing yes, but earlier, I had no control."

She nods, expecting my answer, but still scoots away from me a half step. "I figured. I hoped, actually."

I can understand that. "What did the Voice say?"

She rolls her eyes. "So called words of wisdom. It told me that certain decisions can only be made by oneself, and who to trust is one of them. But I don't believe it. I'll always trust you. All of you."

This statement practically tears my heart out, into a hundred pieces, and stomps on it.

Max is being so loving, so trustful, so normal towards me when in both of our dreams I have turned into an Eraser and killed her. I don't deserve, and frankly, she deserves better.

"Don't." I say, and Max's head snaps up in my direction. The question in her eyes is obvious.

"Don't trust me blindly. I'd rather kill myself then hurt you, but I didn't have control."

Max scoffs. "I've already made the mistake of hesitating once. If it came down to a fair fight, I'll take my chances."

I want to protest, but why should I? This is pretty much the halfway solution. It's not perfect, but it's better than us being forced apart.

"Voice also said," Max continues, "That it knows what happening to us, but it can't say. Because the 'answer is already within your reach.'"

"That's my fault. I do have a theory."

"Oh yeah? And what might that be?"

"Do you remember when Jeb and Anne pretended like they simulated our whole lives?" I begin. Max nods. "I think that they might have succeeded, to some extent. Last night was like a simulation. It didn't really happen, but they controlled our minds though our chips to give us those 'dreams.'"

Max nods again. "Voice says you're right. But it also says that it was done to tear us apart. Not just me and you, but the Flock. Each one of us had some sort of freaky dream last night, and it's so we can suspect each other, and turn against each other. They expect us to betray each other, like we're puppets, scared of a little science. We're not, Fang. Our bonds are stronger than that. You've got to trust the ones that you love. I love all of you, more than science can ever dictate."

I am shocked, both at the wisdom and emotion behind Max's speech.

The Flock, who haven't said anything yet, is still quiet. And then Iggy sticks his hand out, making a fist. He's not even close to the middle, but we all scoot closer to him to make his fist the middle of our little circle. Max stacks her fist on Iggy's, then Nudge, then Angel, and then Gazzy. I'm the last on to put my hand into the middle.

It's a show of support. Of unity. It's a decision that we've all just made, consciously or not. That we will stand by each other. No matter what, or when. We are, and we always will be all in this together.

….

**Done. You get it now? Just in case you didn't, here's a little summary:**

**Through the chips in their arms, the white coats were able to send them dream/simulation sort of things, which was the last two chapters. Notice how in each person's point of view, I mention the words 'worst nightmare.' That's what the white coats did, take each of their worst nightmares, and send them realistic dreams about it. **

**All of their worst night mares had to do with losing each other, so the white coats wanted to break the bond that the Flock had, to turn them against one another. But as Max puts it, they're all in this together, and they agree that they'll trust each other till the end. **

…**.**

**Sorry that Nudge isn't in any of the nightmare things. I didn't want to drag those out for more than two chapters, and I sort of mentioned Gazzy in Angel's point of view, but it was Angel's nightmare only, not Gazzy's. **

**Review?**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:  
><strong>"What are we going to do, Max?" Nudge asks, after an appropriate amount of silence. I'm glad she waited at least a few minutes, because it's all too much to fully grasp at once.

I shiver, but it's not cold at all. "My mom's still expecting us. We need to be there by tonight. The sooner we get these chips out, the better." What I don't say is that I'm not sure how much these chips can control us. I'm not sure if we can even last till tonight.

Nudge nods, and when her stomach growls obnoxiously, she smiles sheepishly.

I offer her a smirk, moving to where my backpack is, on a quest to find food.

Fang brushes by me. "Got it." He mutters, and I'm probably the only one who hears him. I shiver again, and feel goose bumps rising up on my arms.

I sort of just sit there while Fang pulls a couple cans of macaroni and cheese out of his backpack. Iggy and Gazzy coax a fire with a couple of sticks, and within a few minutes, they've got a small but roaring flame going. Fang cooks the macaroni, which basically means he held the can on top of the fire until he decides the macaroni's ready. In a total of ten minutes, I dished out macaroni in a can to everyone, and we dug in.

"Max?" Gazzy asked.

"Hmm?"

"Will we ever eat cereal for breakfast?"

Oh, my God. My head practically swims with shock at his statement. Not because it's so horrible or rude, but because it's so sad. Sad that most kids complain at eating cereal for breakfast, and here, Gazzy is wishing for some instead of macaroni in a can. I don't mean to turn this completely mushy and corny, but it nearly broke my heart in two that I couldn't even offer the kids something as simple as a proper breakfast.

"Cereal is so overrated, man. Trust me, macaroni's much better. Besides, these cans are perfect to make miniature bombs." Iggy interjects, casually. At any other time, I would be concerned, and tell Iggy off. Instead, I graze my fingers against him, letting him know I was grateful. Gazzy brightens up immediately, the smile on his face so big that it is hard to believe it was ever missing.

"Really? Cool! Will you show me? Please, Iggy!"

Phew. Disaster averted.

…

We're flying. We have been, for several hours now. It's a really good thing that we have a built in sense of direction, because there's no way we would know where we were going otherwise. Iggy's leading, with Gazzy next to him. Why is the blind guy leading? It doesn't really matter, when you're in the sky. There's not much to run into, and our sense of direction isn't something you see, it's something we feel.

Anyway, they're in the front, probably discussing which kind of soup can blows up the best. Me and Fang are in the back. Angel and Nudge are in the middle. Every now and then, I hear Nudge squeal obnoxiously, which leads me to believe that they're probably talking about clothes/shows/boys.

I hear Angel giggle in my head. _Nope! _She chirps. _We're talking about you and Fang and how cute you are._

I sigh inwardly, but don't really care. As long as I don't hear anything they're saying, and Fang doesn't either, I don't mind.

_FANG! YOU AND MAX ARE JUST SO CUTE! –cue squeal-_

I freak out for a second but then realize that Angel said that in my head, and not out loud. Feeling silly but smiling in spite of myself, I chuckle.

Fang turns and looks at me, his eyebrow raised. It's not weird for him to do that because we haven't talked for more than an hour or so now, maintaining a comfortable silence. He's probably wondering why I'm breaking it.

I shake my head, but he flies closer to me anyways.

"Something's off." He mutters.

This catches my attention. "Wait, what?"

"Something's off." He repeats. "Do you ever remember passing that lake?" He points to this small little lake beneath us and my stomach sinks as I realize that he's right. I have never seen that lake in my life before, and we've been back and forth to Arizona quite a few times now. And it's not just the lake; I can't recognize any of our surroundings.

"We can't be going the wrong way."

"No," He agrees, nodding. "Maybe we're going a different way, but still to the same place?"

Nope. Now that he's brought it up, we have to check it out, or else it'll bother me the rest of the trip.

"It's a little too far-fetched. Let's at least figure out what state we're in." I suggest. He nods. "But don't say anything to the rest of them until we know for sure." I add.

He nods again, reminding me of a bobble-head.

"Guys!" I call, projecting my voice. "Land in that baseball field at 4 o'clock!"

Nobody gives any acknowledgement, but they all start to swoop down, and after making sure they were going in the right direction, I follow. Fang is a wingbeat behind me (Get it? Wingbeat, you know, because we have…never mind.)

As soon as we're all grounded, Nudge bursts out, "Why'd we stop?"

"I need to check something. Figured we could use a break." Fang replies simply, and she doesn't question us further. I'm just a little jealous that Fang doesn't get asked any questions. Had I said the very same thing, I would have been bombarded with questions.

"Can we go to Walmart again?" Gazzy asks excitedly. "I could use some new socks!"

The poor kid is so excited about buying socks that I don't have the heart to refuse him. I don't really want to split up, but I say okay anyways. Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge all walk, run, and prance, respectfully. Angel stays with us, because she already knows about our suspicions.

"Stay together!" I call out after them, sounding like the very worried mother I am at heart.

"Yes, mom." Fang whispers in my ear. I swat him halfheartedly, too worried about where we are and splitting up.

"Relax." He says. "Let's find a map in that grocery store."

I follow him into the store, holding Angel's hand, trying to ignore the many stares we're getting. One woman actually glares at me, pulling her own child closer to her.

"Why are they staring?" I hiss at Fang. He sort of stares at me incredulously, and half smiles.

I frown. "What?"

"You really don't know?"

I shake my head no.

"We're obviously together, we look about 16 years old, and you're holding the hand of a child." He explains.

Then I get it. They think that Fang and I are together, and that Angel is my kid. I laugh out loud, receiving even more attention.

"Sorry." I whisper. "But that's preposterous." Who says I'm not smart? That's some elevated vocabulary, right there.

Fang shoots me a rare grin. "I know." He says, and then his face is solemn once again. We don't want to ask someone what state we're in, because they'd look at us like we had two heads. Instead, we look over at the postcard section.

My heart sinks as I recognize the image on one of the postcards.

It's the Liberty Bell.

That means that we are all the way in freaking Philadelphia.


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

"What?" Fang exclaims. "How are we this far away from Arizona?"

I look at him grimly, and within seconds he comes to the same conclusion I already have assumed.

"No way," he breathes. "No freaking way. You think the scientists have messed up our internal tracking systems too?"

I nod. "They've messed with what we've seen. They've pretended to simulate a day's worth of experiences. They've dug into our minds to figure out what each of out what each of worst nightmares is. They don't want us getting the chips out, and let's face it, without our sense of direction, we have practically no idea where we're going."

The worst part is that I'm completely right. None of us know where my mom actually lives, other than the fact that she lives in Arizona.

"Max," Angel says slowly, her voice sort of strangled.

"Hm?"

"Trust your gut. Where is your mom's place? What direction is it in?" She asks.

I think about it for a second, but there's really no need to. The minute she asks, I know that it's to my right. I point that way, and then look at Angel. She's holding a compass.

Oh, no.

This is bad.

This is really bad.

The direction I'm pointing in is North East. If we kept following our instincts, we would have flown all the way to Europe. Even I, with my limited understanding of geography, know that Arizona has to be to the south of us, if we're in Philadelphia.

"Crap." Fang says, and that pretty much sums up our situation.

"We are so screwed." I agree.

"No, not really." Angel sticks her head up defiantly. "We just have to do things the normal people way."

"Normal? NORMAL? We have WINGS! How can we be normal?" My voice is still a whisper, but it's an octave higher than normal. What does she want us to do? Hack into an Itex lab and fix ourselves so we can get our sense of direction back? Buy a GPS and have Iggy hook it up to my body?

Angel is unfazed by my completely unnecessary outburst. "We find an internet café. We look up your mom. She's well known, right? Her clinic probably has a website, that'll list the address on there. We go on Google maps, and look that up. We stick closer to the ground and ignore our instincts and follow the directions. At least we'll be in the right city."

Oh. Or we could do that.

It's a little demeaning when a six year old comes up with better ideas than you.

Angel reads my mind, and replies, "Max, it's not your fault. You've relied so heavily on wings and super speed and all our other abilities for so long, that it's hard for you to think of doing things any other way."

I nod, in unhappy acceptance.

"Can you get Iggy, or Nudge or Gazzy?" Fang asks Angel, who nods. I guess she shouts for them in her head (or in their head, now that I think about it) because about five minutes later, they all walk into the gas station, carrying Wal-mart bags.

"We bought socks!" The enthusiastic voice belongs to my little trooper. I ruffle Gazzy's hair in response automatically, smiling.

"Yeah, and like, Iggy totally wouldn't let me buy the pink ones, and it stinks because they were only a few dollars more, and they were in the clearance bin, and one of them had a little heart on each toe, and it was the cutest thing ever, and I reaaaaaaaaaaallly wanted one but Iggy said I couldn't, so if you put him in charge, he actually listened and followed your instructions and stuff, because you wouldn't have let me bought those socks either, unless you saw how cute they were…" Nudge breaks off thoughtfully.

I breathe out, pretending to be exasperated, but secretly, I'm relieved, because this is something I know how to handle.

But before I can say anything, Iggy beats me to it. "Nudge. SHUT UP!"

Nudge purses her lips, completely unaffected. "Would you have let me get them in blue?"

I shake my head no. "Probably not. Now, listen, I need to tell you guys some…stuff."

This gets everyone's attention like a camel announcing a watering hole in the middle of the desert. Oh, dear, where do I get this stuff from? Who even comes up with similes like that anyway? But suddenly, I don't know how to begin. There's a beat of awkward silence, but then Fang steps forward.

"We're in Philidelphia." Fang says quietly, when I don't continue fast enough. This is met with confusion, and a lot of talking.

"Say WHAT?"

"Philidelphia? Is that the one by Montana?"

"No, dipstick, that's the one by New York. Right? I think I'm right."

"NEW YORK! That's like, the other side of the country!"

"My point exactly, Gazzy." I've found my voice again. "Using our chips, the scientists have messed up our sense of direction, so we really can't trust the tug in our gut anymore. Angel came up with a plan. We're going to find a place with wi-fi and use Fang's laptop to figure out the address of my mom's house and how to get there. It's even more vital that we get there soon, because this proves just how dangerous this game might be. "

It's a complicated, unplanned for twist, but I don't say that.

Nudge is the first one to nod. "Okay. Say, if we go to a bookstore or library instead of the usual café, I can hijack the printer to print out some directions. It's going to be hard to remember how to get from here to Arizona."

I nod right back at her. "That's a good idea, Nudge."

"Maybe we should steal a compass too, so we can go in the right direction." Iggy says, looking positively gleeful.

"Heck yeah!" Gazzy chimes in.

I frown. "Or we could buy one. If we're going to act like normal people, let's do this the proper way."

"Proper? Then why don't we fly to Arizona? In like, a plane?" Gazzy suggests this, and Nudge's pursing her lips like it's a good idea. I don't like it, though. I hate the trapped feeling of planes, and we all have pretty bad claustrophobia. On top of it all, a plane is sort of redundant.

"I'd rather fly. I mean, would you rather be stuck in a metal cage for a couple hours or fly free in the sky for a few more?" Fang says, looking pretty antsy. I can relate, because planes aren't my favorite thing either.

Iggy must pick up on our hesitance, because he chimes in, "Yeah, and besides, this way we can bully Max into passing over Vegas or something."

Hm, how about no. I don't say anything to stop the cheers from everyone else, though, because it's my escape from having buy plane tickets.

"So it's settled! Let's find a library." I said, and the Flock obediently walks out. We pretty much walk around until we see a library. It's the _Cecil B. Moore Public Library._ Luckily, there's a section with computers and printers, and we stroll over to it without asking for help.

"This is probably better." Fang murmurs. I look at him quizzically, having absolutely no clue what he's talking about. "This way I won't have to hack into their internet connections." he continues, "And black and white printouts are free." He points to a small sign by the checkout.

I look there and he's right. For first time library card users, black and white printouts are free for the first six months, so we won't have pay, and we won't need Nudge's epic hacking skills either.

"Okay," I say, leaning over him to peer at what he's doing. He's looking up "Valencia Martinez" and sorting through the many people to try and find the right one. There are two Valencia Martinez's in Arizona, so Fang looks at both of them. Neither of them have pictures, but one of them links to a veterinarian website, so it's a safe bet to assume that this is my mom. Fang searches her address into Google Maps next, and I do a double take when I see the time approximation; 1 day and 15 hours.

"WHAT?" I screech, not-so-quietly. The librarian gives me a dirty glance, but then returns to her frantic typing.

Fang pats my arm, trying to calm me down some. "It's only that long if we're in a car, Max. Flying is much more straightforward, since we don't have to count in traffic and roads. We fly in a straight line southwest, and we'll pretty much hit Arizona. From there, we can try to follow the directions and get closer, but we can ignore the papers for a few hours."

Oh. I swear, lately it's been like I'm PMSing, on extreme mode. I over react to everything, and freak out and yell and break down. I hate it.

"Okay. Print those out." I say brusquely, pushing past him. I can practically feel his smirk behind me as I walk away, but I refuse to turn around and acknowledge it. Instead, I walk over to Angel, who's looking at books. It's a little disturbing that she's looking at Stephen King novels instead of Junie B. Jones or whatever it is regular six year olds read, but it's better than the hair styling sections, where Nudge is, or the guns and bombs section, where Iggy is.

When you think about it, this makes no sense, since he can't read. It's like there's a pull to pyromaniacs, even the ones who can't see, to the artillery section. Worse than that, though, is Gazzy, who is wandering over to the romance novel. OHGODOHGODOHGOD. I think frantically, as I practically sprint over to him. I'm too far away, though, and he walks right in.

"Gazzy, NO!" I shriek, but it's too late.

"What, Max?" He turns and faces me, but then catches a glimpse of the book cover. "What is that!" He screams, turning it into a statement, and running back to me. "MY EYES! THEY BURN!"

I let a huge sigh of relief. At least he didn't ask me what it was, for whatever reason. Because I sure as hell did not want to be the one to explain things to him.

"Mkay." Fang stands up. "Let's go."

"Compass." I remind him, and he nods.

"I can go get that. You guys can chill here." I say, because I see Nudge's and Angel's face fall the minute they realize we have to leave again.

"I'll come with you. Iggy, you're in charge." Fang says, and I don't protest. They're not in very much harm at a library, and so it really doesn't matter. Besides, I need to talk to Fang, alone, about what's been going on.

"Iggy, who was one a completely different wavelength, wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. "Try not to get too sidetracked, you two!" He calls out as we step out the door. In the freaky mood I'm in right now, this would be enough for me to blow up over him, but I'm too lost in thought to really care.

Fang slips his hand into mine as we walk back to the same gas station. I'm surprised, because he isn't really a fan of PDA or anything, but possible imminent death puts everything is perspective. A few minutes later, I break the silence.

"Fang," I begin, already having planned out what I want to say. Fang, however, interrupts me.

"Shh." He says. Shocked, I draw back, pulling my hand out of his and staring at him in confusion.

"Shh." He repeats. "We're going to have these ten minutes to be alone, and it'll be our only chance to be alone for a long time now. I know you need to talk to me about everything that's going on, and I agree. We do need to talk about it, because god knows we can't pretend it didn't happen. But let's just enjoy the moment, for these ten minutes."

I'm still shocked. This new, expressive Fang sort of scares me, just a little, but I can't lie. It's certainly an improvement from sullen, silent Fang. I nod wordlessly, and slip my hand back into his. We walk the rest of the way in silence. Even once we're in the store, he grabs a compass and I slide over my credit card without a second thought.

Walking out, he stops. "Are you mad?" He asks me.

I'm a little surprised he came to that conclusion. "Not at all." I reply, completely honest.

"So I can do this." He says, and he leans in. I'm extremely shocked, and a little bit nervous, because I don't want to kiss in front of other people, in the middle of the sidewalk. I pull away, not letting our lips touch.

"Sorry." We both say. That kiss was both out of character and out of line, but whatever. We limit ourselves to handholding as we make our way back to the library.

Angel must have realized we've arrived, because the Flock is packed up and ready to go.

"Alright, guys. Let's fly."

**Different Random Whitecoat's POV:**

"They're onto us, sir. They've figured out that they're going the wrong way, and have reversed course and are traveling at full speed back to Arizona." My assistant tells me. It's not what I want to hear. I growl in rage.

"Where are they now?" I ask.

"Somewhere over Ohio, sir. The leader has been clocked at 115 miles per hour, so we can assume that they're hurrying."

I want to scream in frustration, but I don't. We knew when we took away their gut feeling for direction that they'd catch onto us very soon. I'd just hoped it'd buy as more times than one day. We needed to finish our plans for Dr. Martinez and her daughter, and it had to be done before Maximum arrived. She had an infamous reputation for messing up our experiments, after all.

"We could launch Plan X, sir." My assistant titters nervously.

"No. Launch Beta4. And Beta6, actually." I order, and he skitters away.

We couldn't launch Plan X just yet, because taking away their wings was our last resort.

…

**Is that more foreshadowing I see?**

**I think it's telling you to review.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. **

**Nudge's POV: **

Flying is fabulous and all, but it really gets tedious sometimes. We've been in the air for hours now, but we're still a ways away from Arizona. It sort of sucks that we can't follow our gut sense of direction, because my stomach's pretty much telling me to go in the other direction. I know better than to, of course, but it's still hard to resist. And there's something a little depressing about always running, always flying, always escaping, always evading.

I feel like life should have more of a purpose, you know? Don't get me wrong, because I love having wings and I know that the rest of it is sort of a package deal. The fighting, the testing, I'm okay with it. But I just think that we need to do something, not just fly here, fight here, and then fly somewhere else, and repeat that 1341906223 times. That's why I advocate for going to school so much. I'm not really that obsessed with being normal- I just feel like we need to do something. That's why when Max's voice is telling her about saving the world, I'm excited. If I was saving the world, it'd mean that all this running, all this fighting, had a purpose. Had a greater cause.

I'm okay with that cause being to save one person. Or to make someone's day. To help two people fall in love. To watch someone's dream come true. To watch a little kid grow up, and see how much they changed. To find a best friend, and love them so much, and confide everything in them. To bake cookies and bring them to school randomly so that your class can have a treat. To drop loose change on the sidewalk, and then watch a little kid's face as he finds it.

I'd like to do that. To do all of those. The one thing they all have in common is that you get to see the results of your actions, and right away. Maybe all this running around we're doing will help out- heck, if everything works out, we'll save the entire freaking world.

But I think that I'd be happy with the little things. I'd be happy to lead a regular life (with wings, though) and help people out. I'd be happy with finding a best friend, finding a boy friend. I love the Flock, but I don't really have a possible soul mate in there, as per se. I mean, Fang's too old (and taken) and Gazzy's too little, so my only option would be Iggy.

I can't lie. I do think about him, and consider it, quite a bit. But I'd be lying if I said that I loved him in any way other than a sisterly/brotherly way. When I'm feeling completely lost and desperate and confused, that's when I really do my thinking about Iggy. He's funny, and sweet, and attractive, but I don't like him. The only reason I even seriously consider him is because I'm lost and desperate and confused.

"What are you thinking about?" Iggy himself says. I smile, because it's slightly ironic that he's talking to me right as I think these things.

"Being normal.' I say simply, and I'm not lying.

"Aw, normal is so overrated, Nudge." His eyes search my face with uncanny ability for a blind person. "If we were normal, we couldn't do this."

Again, with freakish accuracy, he grabs my hands and pulls me up really fast. He flies directly on top of me, and then he starts to only flap with one wing. This makes us go around in a small circle, but then he shouts something. I can't really hear him, because we're going so fast the wind is whooshing in my ears.

"What?" I have to struggle to make my voice heard.

"Only flap your right wing!" He hollers at me, but his words are faint. Still, I follow his instructions. My right wings beats in sync with his left, and now we're going straight, but it's hard to only flap one wing, so we're really wobbly. All of a sudden, Angel grabs my other hand and starts to fly under me, flapping her left wing.

Since both of them are using their left wing, we're veering steeply to the right. To fix it, Gazzy joins us, stacking on top of Iggy and moving his wing in the same rhythm. Max and Fang don't add on, but instead watch us from a little distance, like proud parents.

Because that's how we are. Max and Fang are our parents, Iggy the cool uncle, and Gazzy and Angel are my little brother and sister. We are a family, no matter how dysfunctional. If being normal means that I couldn't have moments like this, then I want no part in it.

**Max's POV:**

"Let's land, guys!" I shout out. We have been flying for over 4 hours, and I'm surprised that nobody's asked for a break or food yet.

Gracefully, we all swoop down in an arc, one of the many tricks we picked up from our time with the hawks. From a distance, we look either like huge birds or extremely coordinated airplanes.

"What's for eating, Max?" Angel asks after we land in a grassy field. It looks like it might have been a soccer field at one point, but is abandoned now, as it's completely overgrown and clumped with weeds. The perfect spot for bird kids to camp.

"Uh." I say, unprepared. I dig through my backpack and triumphantly pull out several bags of prepackaged salad with dressing. It's fancier that we'd normally eat, and it sure beats desert rat! "Salad." I tell her, and from somewhere behind me, Nudge squeals. I'm pretty sure she's back on her vegetarian diet phase.

I pass out the bags (everyone gets two, to start) and we dig in. There's nothing but the sound of chewing for a little bit, and then:

"Where are we, Max?" Nudge asks through a mouthful of lettuce.

I have a shred of manners, so I swallow what's in my mouth before I speak. "Not really sure. Fang?"

I have appointed Fang as our navigator. "We should be in Kansas." He says, sounding the same as always. I nod.

"We're making good time. We can afford to spend about an hour here, if you guys want. Relax." I suggest. I do not actually like the idea of stopping and losing our good time, but it's not only my opinion that matters, as I've learned over the years. But if resting for a little now means that later, we'll all be happy and content and determined to push through the last stretch of our journey, fine.

"Yes, please." Angel mumbles sleepily. I don't really know why she's sleepy, since she never takes naps or anything, and it's only mid afternoon. Maybe going against the instructions in her gut is more stressful for her than for us, since she's so little.

"Okay. Sleep, talk, blow up things up, whatever. You have 58 minutes, and then we're out of here."

Everyone nods their agreement and wanders off to do whatever it they want to do. Soon, only Fang and I are left still sitting.

"I hate this." He murmurs after several beats of silence. I nod, and scoot closer to him. I lean my head against his chest and he strokes my hair and resumes talking. "I hate not being able to trust myself."

This is new to me. I jerk my head up. "What?"

He shrugs. "I can't trust myself because I don't know if it's actually my instinct or if it's something programmed into me, and I can't follow my gut feelings, and I might turn into an Eraser any minute and start attacking people." His voice hasn't changed in volume at all, but I can hear the anger creeping into his voice.

"Fang-" I began, but he cuts me short.

"And I hate that we've stopped." He snaps, irritated.

This makes me really annoyed, because he knows just as well as I do why we've stopped, just as he knows that I don't want to. "Look," I begin heatedly, but he's determined to not let me finish a sentence today.

"I know." He sighs, and now his voice is resigned. "It's not you, I just hate feeling so…desperate."

"Me too, but don't take it out on me! This isn't easy for me either, okay? If anything, it's harder, because try to break it to a bunch of kids that we've flown in the wrong direction, and that we need to fly for another two days, just to get back where we started, and then we still-"

Yet again, he interrupts me. "I'm sorry."

I'm not done yet, though. Similarly, it's not really him I'm mad at, but at the situation we're in. It's almost underhanded, what the white coats are doing. Making it so that we can't trust each other, trust ourselves. I draw breath to continue my rant, but I stop when a pair of lips brush against mine.

I respond almost ferociously, kissing Fang back with intensity I didn't know I had. Our kiss is more urgent than romantic, but it is just as passionate. If anything, it's more so, because we're both running out of time, and we know it. I run my hands through his hair, and it's getting stuck in all the knots. His hands, which started at my upper back, slowly make down towards my waist. His fingers graze the sensitive spot between my wings, and I tremble under his touch. We break away, both gasping for air.

I look at him for a second, before leaning in again. We have one hour of free time, and then several more days of being apart, and pretending we are brother and sister and that there is nothing between us.. I'm determined to make this hour count.

**Fang's POV:**

Regretfully, and for the last time, I break apart from Max. The hour is almost up, and I have done nothing but kiss her- not that I mind. Our argument from before forgotten, we interlock our fingers as we stand to round up our flock.

"TO ME!" Max shouts, and I wince at her loudness. It might have been necessary, but she didn't have to do it in my ear. "Sorry." She says, turning to me. I ruffle my hair.

"It's fine."

She leans in and pecks me on the lips before skipping ahead of me, hoping to catch a glimpse of where all the kids are. Angel and Nudge show up first, with flowers in their recently braided hair.

"Isn't this pretty, Max?" Nudge asks, and Max nods. I can see her itching to tell Nudge to take the flowers out, but she doesn't, and thank god for that. They'll fall out when we're flying anyway.

Gazzy is next in line. His shirt is slightly blackened around the edge, and his sneakers have some soot on them. When he steps closer, I can smell smoke, but I decide not to ask. Max, however, was not as thoughtful as me.

"What were you up to?" She wrinkles her nose as the smell of smoke hits her. "And where's Iggy?"

"Uh, stuff. And Iggy's um, disposing of the stuff safely." He shifts his weight awkwardly from foot to foot.

Max closes her eyes and breathes in deeply. Luckily for her sanity, Iggy arrives.

"Max, Fang." He badass nods at me. I nod back, and I probably look way tougher, considering I'm wearing all black, have a completely stoic face, am tan and muscular, as opposed to practically albino with a goofy grin, blond hair and a sticklike body.

"Someone's got a big head." Angel remarks from behind me. I feel my cheeks heat up, but since nobody else knows what she's talking about, they ignore her comment.

"Let's roll, guys. We'll stop again in a couple hours when it gets too dark. Capiche?" Max announces. I nod my agreement, and so does everyone else.

I'm not really going to bore you with the details of the next 4 hours, because nothing eventful happened. We flew, and that's pretty much it.

We landed after the sun started to set. We needed to eat while we could still see what we were eating, preferably. Luckily, there was a little cave, so we didn't have to sleep in wet and dewy grass.

"We're done, right?" Angel asks, once again through a mouthful of food. Max nods at her, and Angel inhales the rest of her dinner and curls up. Gazzy and Nudge quickly follow suit.

"Which watch do you want me to take, Max?" Iggy asks, the ever dutiful third in command.

"Third. I'll wake you up. Fang, take first, okay?" Max phrases her question towards me like an order, and I know I don't really have a choice. Second watch is the worst, though, because you get about 3 hours of sleep, only to be disturbed, and then you get to sleep another 2 or 3 hours after. It sucks because the sleep is so broken up that it's not very relaxing. I let Max take it though, planning to stay on watch as long as I can manage.

I sit by the fire, watching as Max and Iggy join the rest of the already sleeping Flock. Iggy's muscles relax within minutes, and I know that he's fast asleep. Max, on the other hand, hasn't stop moving since she laid down, a sure sign that she's wide awake. Max is normally a rock while sleeping, and she barely moves.

"Max?" I whisper, when I'm positive everybody else is asleep.

"Hmm?" She murmurs, not even slightly sleepy-sounding.

I falter, not really having something else to say. Max, however, is unfazed. She gets up and sits next to me, wrapping her blanket around herself like a lifesaver.

"Couldn't sleep?" I ask. She shakes her head no.

"It's too…unsettling."

I nod. "It's been pretty crazy."

"But sometimes, I'm not sure if I'm doing this right. What if the only reason the scientist's are bothering us is because we're trying to get the chips out? Maybe if we stop, they'll leave us alone. Maybe I'm completely wrong." I haven't heard Max sound this troubled in a pretty long time.

"No, no." I tug on her blanket, forcing her to share. "We need to get the chips out. Even if the only reason they're bugging us right now is because we're trying to get rid of the chips, I don't want to live my life knowing I'm being controlled by people I hate. Even if that is their reason, which I doubt, they might leave us alone for a little if we stop. But then what? You really think they'll just leave us alone forever? We're their most prized experiments. Besides, you could never be completely wrong. Not by yourself. No, we might all be completely wrong, but don't worry, you're always right, or so you tell me."

I might not deserve an Oscar for my less than noteworthy speech, but a faint grin pulls at the edges of Max's lips, which is what I want. _Lips I want to kiss…_ I force the thought away. This is not the time to make out.

"Okay." Max says simply after a long silence. I look at her curiously, unsure as to whether that was a response to my sentence from earlier or a new statement. She has her eyes closed; face tilted up to face the sky. In a minute, she opens them.

"That's Orion." She says, pointing towards the stars. I follow her finger to the belt of the hunter in the sky.

"There's Hercules." I move her hand until it's pointing at the constellation. Back when we still lived in the E shaped house, Jeb had taught us all our constellations. Quite honestly, I'm surprised I still remember them.

Max and I sat in silence for the next few hours. I thought she had drifted off a couple times, but each time I checked, her eyes were open. We waited until the moon was almost faded, the faint pink light of dawn creeping slowly to wake Iggy up.

After making sure he was fine, we both lay under our blankets, and for the first time in what felt like forever, had a nightmare-less sleep.

…

When I woke up, I realized we had slept in far too late. Sure, we had stayed up on each other's watches, and barely slept, but every minute we slept could be the difference between escaping and being captured.

I nudged Max awake gently. She flipped out when she realized how late we were. "Iggy, you should have woken us up!" She says.

He shrugs sheepishly. "I know you guys were up a long time last night."

"But- ARGH!" Max runs her hands through her hair in frustration, not wanting to yell at Iggy for having his heart in the right place. She takes a deep breath to calm down. "Let's go, guys. We can eat later. I hate staying so long in one place."

But all of Max's precautions now might as well have been useless. Iggy took one step out of the cave and crumpled to the ground with a loud groan.

"IGGY!" Max let out a strangled cry. She lunged as if to dash out to him, but I grabbed her hand.

"No! Who knows what'll happen if you step out?"

Max nods, her face ashen.

"Who would know indeed." A throaty voice muses. "Well, I would."

Out of the shadows steps…an Eraser. It's not Ari, but it's much bigger and taller and more muscular.

"Hello Maximum. I've heard quite a bit about you." He greets, grinning.

Max lets out a scream.

Max lets out a scream, and all hell breaks loose.

**... My first cliffhanger in forever! Review :)**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

My first reaction? Complete and utter shock. Luckily, my body was used to fighting, and I was ducking and punching and kicking instinctively.

"Max!" Nudge shouted, and I whirled around just in time to face a roundhouse kick from an Eraser. I grabbed his foot and rotated it, forcing him to fall awkwardly. In two quick snaps, I broke both his legs, leaving him unconscious and crippled on the floor. Moving on, next target. My next victim was Mr. Big and Ugly himself, who seemed to be from a newer generation of Erasers. He was fast, I'll give him that.

He launched two punches at me within the first second, and I was forced into defensive mode. Sure, I was stopping all of his attacks, but we were both tiring, and I was yet to hit him once. I winced as one of his kicks made solid contact to my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I grabbed his foot too, hoping to execute the same move as with the other eraser, but steroid boy was slighter smarter than your average goon. He lashed out with his other foot, so he was entirely off the ground. Using the power from his jump, he kicked my face. I didn't drop his foot fast enough, and my hands weren't there to block his kick. I staggered, because it hurt like heck.

He pressed his advantage, striking me in the stomach once again while I was still dazed. Ouch. I kicked him, finally landing a hit, but it only fazed him for a second, and I barely started to get up before he shoved me down. I pretended to close my eyes, although I was really squinting. Finally, a stroke of luck. He seemed to become overconfident, and he relaxed as he cocked his wrist to punch me one last time. His fist started coming down towards my face, and I was so pumped on adrenaline that time seemed to slow down. I caught hold of his fist, twisted it, and heard a satisfying CRACK as his wrist broke in at least three different places.

He growled at me, baring his teeth.

"Oh, I'm so scared." I snapped, which might not have helped my situation, but was extremely fulfilling to say.

He lunged for me, and I formed a defensive crouch. I swung to the side, and he sailed past me. I would have loved to use my advantage, wings, but the cave wasn't big enough. I didn't really have any use for breathing underwater either, so none of my superpowers could help me very much.

"MAX!" I hear a high pitched voice scream. Oh, no.

I whirl around to see Angel pointing out the cave. In the distance, less than fifty feet away was a black swarm, of Flyboys. Reinforcements, I thought, my heart sinking. From behind me, I hear a ferocious growl, and then I see stars.

**Fang's POV:**

Kick, duck, spin, punch, repeat. My mind and body are on autopilot as I fight the swarm of Erasers, trying to catch a glimpse of my family. I see Gazzy out of the corner of my eye, and try to turn invisible so I can walk over to him and see if he needs any help. I can't blend in, though, and I guess it's because I can't really concentrate with all his craziness around me. From a distance, he seems to be holding up pretty well, so I dismiss him from my mind and focus more on the threat in front of me.

"Maximum?" The Eraser asks. He's the one that spoke earlier, the one that is one a serious weight training program.

"Obviously not." I reply snidely, making a move to punch him in the gut. I have to give it to him- this guy is good. None of that weak, flimsy thing we're used to. Most Erasers are all brawn, no brain, which makes them easier targets, especially if we're clever about fighting. This guy is smart, and more human-like. Like he's been professionally trained.

He stops my punch easily, deflecting it but not returning it. He's looking around but still blocking my attack. I'm sweating and tired, and I've never tried this hard and not landed a single hit. Worse, my opponent's not even paying attention to me- which makes me wonder if he was, would I survive?

Abruptly, Big Ugly walks away, apparently finding whatever it was he was looking for in the midst of this swarm. My heat sinks as I realize that it's Max that he's headed towards, and I try to make my way to her, to him. I'm interrupted many times, but I'm not trying to beat my attackers, I'm just trying to make it to Max without getting beat up. She seems to do no better than me, barely landing any hits and getting hit more than once. By herself, she cannot take him, but if both of us fight him together, we have a chance. I'm a little hesitant about leaving the rest of the Flock on their own, fighting over a hundred Erasers, but Big Ugly is the bigger priority here. Without him, this is an easy victory for us.

"MAX!" Angel screams. I turn and look at where she's pointing, and my eyes widen in shock. There is a mass of something –Flyboys?- headed straight for us, reinforcements for our current enemies. And Big Ugly lets out an incredibly loud growl. I turn back, chiding myself for getting distracted, just in time to see Max fall to the ground, and to see Big Ugly triumphantly standing on top of her.

Oh, gods.

We are so screwed.

**Angel's POV:**

This is horrible. Let me list all of the reasons for you, shall I? For one, we have a soldier down, Max. Plus, we're already losing badly, and there's a swarm of Flyboys on the way. Lastly, and probably most importantly, NONE OF MY POWERS WORK. It's worse for me than the others because I have the most powers, and I use those most often. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody else even noticed, but I did, because I couldn't pick up anything from Big Ugly. He was obviously not a machine, and it was blank.

Worried, I tried to read Max next. Nothing. Then Fang, then Iggy. Nada, zilch, zero. I couldn't dwell on this for long, and was forced to pay more attention to my surroundings, to the fight around me.

I may be small, and I may not be very strong, but I've always been quick. This is what lets me survive in fights against monsters three times my height and weight. I snap a kick at the nearest Eraser, and roll under him when he advances towards me. He turns, confused, and I zip around him again to punch him in the face. Cross eyed, he manages to stay upright for a full couple seconds before falling.

The key is not hitting hard, it's knowing where to hit. As long as you hit a pressure point, or a major nerve endings receptor, the pain will send most people into a concussion, or at least in unconsciousness. I'm guessing this is what happened to Max, too.

Another Eraser approaches me. I snaked in a quick slap to the face of the creature, which was mainly meant to distract him while I slugged his gut as hard as I could. He stepped back, biting back a hiss of pain. In two more quick motions, I hit his jaw with my fist, punching up so that it broke at least a couple teeth. The Eraser retaliated by attempting to pull my hair, but I nimbly ducked and avoided him, as well as snuck in another kick, this time to the groin.

The Eraser let the air out of his lungs with a slow, raspy breath. I used both my palms to slap him on both sides of his head, near his temples. He fell instantly, stunned.

Great. Two down, only 398 more to go.

**Iggy's POV:**

Hell breaking loose is not a pretty sight. Of course, I shouldn't know anything about that, since I can't see. Not even a little; I can't even make out colors. I guess it's because everything is moving too fast for my brain to pick it up. You might think that being blind would seriously hinder me in a fight, but it really hones my skills. In some ways, I even have an advantage, since I hear things, and can't ever get distracted by something I see. For example, Angel has just screamed, and since I heard an obnoxious gasp from Gazzy, I can only assume that she was pointing out something.

Well, I also heard Max fall and I guess she's unconscious, because Nudge yelped next to me, and Angel just screamed again.

"MAX! No, come on!" She yells, and I just keep right on plowing through these Erasers, jabbing, punching, kicking.

"Max?" I hear Fang's deep bass voice ask. He sounds the same always, but I can detect a hint of panic in his voice.

One of the Erasers slashes my leg. It burns, but it's no more than a skin cut.

"Aw, get up, Max!" It's Gazzy this time, so everybody except me is clustered around her, I guess. An Eraser grabs me by the side but is suddenly thrown aside, proving that theory wrong.

"There's another to your left." Gazzy whispers, and I brush my hand against his to let him know I'm grateful. I faint to my right and kick to my left, and am reward by the sound of a defeated eraser falling.

"What's going on, guys?" I shout, wanting to at least know what's wrong with Max.

"There's a ton of blood, Ig. Her side is slashed open, worse than when Ari hurt me on the beach. She's unconscious, super pale, and her pulse is way too fast. Her body's going into overdrive to survive." Fang informs me.

"Will Max be okay, Fang?" Nudge asks, her voice slightly muffled. I assume it's because she's fighting.

I brace myself to hear Fang's lies, to hear him say that of course Max will be fine, she's just a little hurt. I don't want to hear those lies, I want to know the truth. What does he think, honestly, because I need to prepare myself.

But Fang doesn't reply at all, which is somehow much, much worse.

Fang doesn't like to lie, so if he isn't saying yes and stretching it that yes, she will be fine, _eventually, _it means he thinks she might not be fine.

It means he thinks that Max might die.

…..

**Phew. Super duper long fight scenes. There will be a lot of fighting in the next couple chapters, so don't expect too much fluff. Hope you guys liked it! Review :)**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Jeb's POV:**

"What are you guys up to?" I ask, trying to sound nonchalant. I'm facing a group of scientists' backs, and they are all fully engrossed in their computer screens to even notice me. I repeat my question, louder this time, and one of them manages to tear their eyes away for a whole second- gee, it must suck to waste a whole second of time!

"Eraser Generation X is working well. A group of M344 Betas have been sent to their aid, in case of emergency." He said stiffly, before swiveling to drool at his computer again. I roll my eyes at his pathetic behavior, but a more urgent matter is at stake.

"Who are you testing on?" This time, I'm trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

The same guy turns around, staring at me strangely. "Mutant Generation IV, of course."

Oh, (insert swear word of your choice). I have been trying to stall the new generation from being released for weeks now, and I've done a darn good job of it. Nobody has suspected a thing about me, probably because I designed the facility that lets them control their subjects DNA. For them, it's a breakthrough, because they can use the chips to strip away powers at crucial moments. For these scientists, it's not about capturing the Flock, it's about testing their powers against stronger forces- and then seeing how well the Flock can do without their powers as well. Without their wings. They no longer need to capture the Flock and experiment on them at the School. No, it's all one big sick experiment, outside of the laboratory.

Sure enough, I see the bright red circle flashing at the top of each computer monitor. The sign lets me know that the Flock's powers have already been taken. If a red triangle were to join it, it would signal that the Flock's wings have been taken away. And if a navy blue square shows up, then I'm too late.

I should probably explain. When I was on the team creating the Flock, before they had even really been born, per se, I had realized one fundamental thing. If the mutants turned out to be evil, or turn against one another, or even become too powerful, we needed a way to stop them. When I proposed this, however, I was scorned for my cautiousness. Nobody wanted to add limitations to the beings who would, if everything went well, be our best successful cross breed yet.

As Max and her flock grew up, I quickly comprehended that they were not at all the danger. They were sweet, smart, and innocent; their lives were torn by tragedy. And one day, it hit me. The true evils did not come from the flock themselves, but from my colleagues. My colleagues, who became greedy. The ones who did not stop at one successful mutation- nope, they wanted more. More, more, more of everything. They wanted more success, more fame, but most of all, ore money.

It wasn't a shocker when another cross breed was proposed, less than a year later. This time, it was human-wolf that was meant to be bred. Even the dumbest in our batch knew that the wolf DNA could most definitely turn against us, so it was up to me to figure out how to place limitations. My fellow scientist, Dr. Evelyn Burke and I threw ourselves into research, before coming up with chips. The chips' purpose, to the knowledge of everyone else, would monitor speed, weight, and altitude. But they also could control the powers. This was more of an accident that anything else, because even I truly didn't understand how exactly powers formed. Was it magic, or was it a result of mixing two incompatible nuclei?

In any case, it was less of a control than an on/off switch. Two years and many more mutations later, the Alpha Generation of Erasers was destroying a less powerful cross breed, human-turtle. The choice was to watch innocent die, or to reveal the true purpose of the chips. Dr. Burke and I agreed that it must be done, and we alerted the other scientist's to a 'startling new discovery.'

The good news was that the human-turtle mutants survived. The bad news? The other scientist teams decided that the chips were invaluable, and put them into every other species of mutation we had created. Including the Flock. Once the chips were in place, the scientist's no longer needed to capture the creations each time for experimentation. Instead, all data could be recorded by the chip, and the latest problem facing the Flock was always the latest experiment the scientist's had designed.

And now was the most troubling test of them all, because it had turned gladiatorial. We had succeeded in replicating the human-avian cross breed, so our first generation was outdated, not to mention worthless. The same went for Alpha Generation Eraser, and now both mutant groups had an execution date hanging on their heads. Their deaths were suddenly much, much more valuable than their lives.

"Jeb? Have you heard?" Dr. Burke's voice interrupted my thoughts.

I shake my head yes. "Distract them. I'm going to change the settings so that it'll be a fair fight." I couldn't call off the flock's attackers, or it would raise suspicion. Rather, I would override the commands that were restricting the Flock. With their many powers, they could easily defeat a group of mismatched, unperfected Erasers.

Evelyn nodded, and abruptly fainted on the spot. Yes, it was the most elementary distraction rick in the world, but hey, it worked. I screamed to get everyone's attention.

"She's dying! Help her!" I shout, and the pathetic dorks stare at me for a couple seconds before understanding me. Suddenly, several drop to the ground, taking her pulse, and other such medical nonsense. "Go, go, go!" I chanted. "I'll take care of the stuff here!"

Panicking and sweating, the scientists all followed my instructions. They ran out the door, carrying Evelyn on a stretcher (it took 5 of them, and she couldn't have weighed more than 120 pounds). The minute they were into the hallway, and I shut the door and locked it. Then I practically sprinted to the computers, which, luckily, were still logged in.

Aw, this whole program was completely unfamiliar to me. I stare at the green, block like type, and I'm woozy for a second. I force myself to snap out of it. The flock is relying on you! I tell myself.

I sort through the code. It's written in Jini Byte, a code I'm pretty good with. I click a couple buttons, mess with a few keys, and suddenly the whole thing is written in plain English.

I click "Flock's Powers." Everything is crossed off in red, but there's a button that says 'restore.' I press it over and over frantically, but each time the computer makes a _bleeeep!_ And then flashes red before refreshing.

CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP.

Realizing that it's obviously not working, I click 'program new power.' I'm pretty sure it takes a while for a new power to manifest, but right now it's all I can give them. I type the code for awesome fighting powers. My jini's a tad rusty, so I might be programming them to start thinking people are purple elephants, but hopefully I'll be closer than that.

There's a gentle knocking on the door, followed by a banging when I don't answer. Swearing under my breath, I type faster, wanting to program this into at least one of Flock.

The banging turns into pounding, and I realize that something is being used a battering ram to break the door down.

A few frantic seconds later, I'm finally done typing. I then program the skill (I'm calling it Jeb's Fantastical Fighting Fantasy) into Iggy. Why Iggy? He deserved it. I probably shouldn't have wasted any time thinking about it, but Max and Fang were already amazing fighters, and already had powerful skills programmed into them. Angel had already hit the jackpot and the Gasman and Nudge were too little to inflict the mass amount of damage I wanted the awesome skill too. After all, everything named after me had to be awesome.

But more than that, Iggy had always gotten short changed. Being blind seriously hindered him, and slowed him down, and made him less successful. Worst of all, I always felt in a way slightly responsible for his blindness. If I had somehow stalled the experiment, or performed it myself, or escaped with the Flock before that experiment, Iggy might not have been blind.

I felt that I owed him something.

With that reasoning behind me, and with the reasoning that a over six foot, strong boy could be devastating to the enemy, when armed with super fighting ability, I clicked the one last button. Somewhere in the world, Iggy just fainted.

The door finally bursts open. The explosion is something out of an action movie, so I half expect to see a muscle-y giant in the doorway, glowering at me.

Worse, I see the Director, her hair still perfectly in place as if she hadn't just blown up a door.

"What on earth are you doing, Batchelder?" She spat at me.

Cliché much? I wanted to say. But I forgot.

My entire life was an action movie.

So I really shouldn't have been surprised.

…..

This was only supposed to be the first half of chapter 29, but I figured you'd like me to post what I've got so far. And ignore the whole 30 chapters thing, because I'm estimating more at 35ish, now. Probably more, since I do a very bad job of fitting everything I've planned into one chapter.


	30. Chapter 30

**I am stunned at the number of people who actually thought I would kill max.**

**Nope, I just wanted a dramatic way to end that last chapter, haha.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**IPOV:**

Ow, I think. I have a killer headache, and my head is pounding. I honestly see stars for a second, and I'm blinking to snap out of it. I can't afford to stop fighting! Max is down, and Fang might as well be, he's so distracted from thinking about her and trying to keep the battle away from her. Without me, it'll all be on Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge's shoulder, and if they were kidnapped, then we'd be seriously behind in trying to save them.

I force myself up, trying to ignore the fact that my head is splitting open. Punch, kick, jab, repeat. I'm not thinking at all, and I must be completely pumped on adrenaline, because I can't feel any pain, anymore, although I'm sure that I must be getting hit. I hear an Eraser creep up beside me, and I punch him in the gut as hard as I can. Apparently, that's harder than I think, because he collapses immediately, stunned. I linger for a moment, not sure if he's faking it or not, but as soon as I realize he's definitely down, I move on.

Since my punches seem to be so powerful, I just keep punching, abandoning the traditional style of fighting to just cut through the swarm and punch and kick as I go.

"Go, Iggy!" Nudge cheers from my right. I smile, and keep plowing through my enemies. I hear a satisfying intake of breath from my left, and allow myself a brief moment of contentment before moving on. I keep going, keep going, and keep going. _Till I run out of road. _I think despite myself, wondering how I'm thinking about Taio Cruz songs while I fight. Maybe it's my mantra.

What feels like forever later, it's quiet. Too quiet, actually. I heard the slow breathing of my Flock, and the scarily haggard breathing from Max, and my own heavy breathing, but nothing else. I wonder what I'm missing, since I'm blind.

"Guys?" I call out hesitantly.

For one scary moment, nobody says anything, and then Angel says, "Wow, Iggy."

"Seriously." Nudge begins. "You were just like BAM! And POW! And you defeated everybody. Well, everyone except for the leader, who was totally big and ugly, so I named him BIG UGLY in my head, and he sort of just disappeared, and maybe he didn't, maybe they're just messing with our chips again, but hopefully he's not here anymore, and it's not like I can hear any breathing anyway, and if he was here and alive, he'd have to breathing-"

I cut her off. "What do you mean, everyone?" I ask, knowing that it was a dumb question. I just needed someone to confirm what I was thinking.

"I think you've gotten a new skill, Iggy." Fang whispers, almost reverently. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. But it's nice to think so, you know? I almost slap myself for thinking about that instead of my new realization.

I have a new power, and it's actually really useful. I'm no longer the worst in the Flock, no longer the most dependent and worthless. I feel a smile start to creep up on my face. I wasn't just pumped on adrenaline earlier, I really wasn't getting hit.

"Iggy, you rule!" The Gasman says happily, and I pat him on the back. At least, it think I did. It might have been his butt, but hopefully not. I don't think he's that much shorter than me.

"Euurrrrrrrgh." A groan from Max interrupts out happy little bubble. Fang immediately runs over to her, and I hear him kneel down. I'm right behind him, since the team's best doctor is another qualification under my belt. I feel Max (no, not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter!) up and down. I can't feel any blood though, which is weird since Fang says she was slashed. When I reach her abdomen, she twitches under my light touch.

"Definitely broken ribs. I think she's broken four. I thought you said she was slashed?" I ask. Fang takes my hand and places it in a warm, sticky mess.

Oh.

"How bad?" Fang inquires urgently. I feel Max's much too fast pulse through the quickly dripping liquid. I hesitate, not sure how much to tell him. I need him to stay strong, and lead, because even with my awesome fighting skills, a blind guy can't lead.

"Bad." I say shakily, deciding that's enough to tell him. "But nothing I can't handle, hopefully. Go to the store and get a ton of bandages, Neosporin, and antibacterial sprays. Meanwhile, someone grab me water. And a rag."

Everyone except Fang leaves to do what I asked. The minute the younger kids leave, he turns into Freakazoid Fang.

"How is she?" He asks urgently.

"Fang, I just told you." He needs to shut up, because I need to concentrate on the daunting task ahead of me. I'm still feeling Max up (heheh) to locate any more injuries.

"The truth, Ig." He says simply. I'm torn, between not wanting to hurt my best friend and needing to tell him so I don't have to deal with it by myself. Truth is, Max is horrible. She will survive, I'm sure, but we might need a doctor.

"She'll live," I begin, so he doesn't freak out on me, "but it's pretty bad. We might need to go to a hospital, Fang. I can't handle this with band aids."

He runs his hand through his hair and sighs loudly. "We can't. A hospital is definitely the sort of place Itex and the whitecoats will have access to, and they can track us down. We can't even stay here much longer; we're already in danger from having been here so long. Sure, you can fight, but how long? And how well? I don't want to have to find out, you know? And we can assume that Big Ugly left to find help."

It's practically the most I've ever heard him say, which only alerts me to exactly how freaked he is.

"Okay, Fang. I get that. But this might be the difference between her living or dying." That's as gentle as I can make it.

After a long pause, he says, "Okay. We are barely an hour away from Arizona, I think. So let's just find Dr. Martinez, she'll know how to deal with this."

It's not ideal, but it seems to be our only option. "Fine." I compromise. "How is she getting there?"

"I'll carry her." Fang says defiantly.

I know there's no dissuading him, so I reply, "Where are you hurt."

"I'm not." He says, way too quickly. I stare at him, my eyebrow raised. Yup, I totally believe that.

He sighs, and then replies "It's just my arm. It's not bad. Really."

The last time Fang said it's wasn't bad was when his ankle was nearly blown up, so this doesn't exactly reassure me.

"Fang, if you're going to be carrying her, you need to be in top shape. Especially because Big Ugly could come back any minute, like you said, with reinforcements. "

He sighs again, but then offers me his arm. I feel it for a second, and he's right, it's not that bad. There's some internal bleeding and maybe a sprain, but no major cuts or breaks.

"Wrap it up when Nudge brings the tape." I order.

"Sure thing, Doctor." He says sarcastically. I'm about to respond with an equally mocking comment but the arrival of Gazzy and Nudge interrupts me.

"I brought water! And Gazzy has all the stuff except Neosporin, and Angel went to get that." Nudge chirps. She puts all the things into my hand.

"Uh, okay. Fang, start washing out the blood from her stomach." I command. For once, he doesn't say anything, and promptly follows my directions.

After he was done, I carefully find her injury and spray antibacterial spray on it. It's a good thing she's conked out, because the stuff stings like a mother. Even unconscious, she stirs because of the spray, but I grab her arm before she can roll onto her stomach and let dirt get in her cut. I carefully apply Neosporin to the edges of her cut, having Fang wash away the blood that just won't stop while the rest of the Flock watches, open eyed.

An hour later, I'm sweating and tired, because it's hard to heal, believe it or not. I hand Fang the roll of bandages, severely depleted from when we first bought it.

"Wrap her up." I say, "And make sure her ribs are tight." I already have set them properly, but the bone needs to heal cleanly or she'll have trouble flying.

Fang does so, and I order the rest of the Flock to a nap. Sure, we've just woke up a few hours ago, but a fight can take a lot out of you.

"You should sleep too, Ig." Fang whispers, once everyone else is asleep.

"I need to watch Max."

"I'll wake you up if she moves or anything."

"I'll sleep when you do!" I say, whisper shouting. He doesn't say anything after that.

I sit down next to him, super tired but wide awake. He's staring, and I'm listening for anything, everything. For movement, for a change in breathing.

But nothing happens.

We're just your two average bird kids, sitting by the body of the girl we both love.

….

**No, not Miggy. Just Iggy being an awesome brother. Review!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

All I can feel is pain, which is definitely a bummer. I want death, unconsciousness, anything to take me away from this horrid, terrible, excruciating pain. I must be unconscious, because I can't see anything but white. Hopefully white is good sign. I've seen black enough t know it means bad things. But maybe white is heaven. Maybe I'm dead. But why would anyone feel pain in heaven? Maybe this was hell. That would make a lot more sense. After all, I've done a lot of bad things in my lifetime.

I've stolen, and killed, and cheated.

I've lied.

I'm not proud of it, but I'll prefer it over dying any day. It looks like that happened anyway, though.

"Max." I hear. It's whisper, and it's Fang. I can't see him, or feel him, but I can hear him. I try to talk. Is he going to welcome me into heaven?

"Max." He says, this time more urgently. "Max, come on. Wake up!"

Wake up? What on earth does he mean? I'm awake. I have my eyes open.

Unless…unless I am unconscious. This makes plenty of sense, though I don't know why I see white instead of black. Either way, it means I'm alive.

I try to talk.

"Fang?" I'm trying to say, but I don't hear anything but a growl-ish groan. Maybe it's him. Maybe it's me.

"Max? Can you hear me?" His voice is more hopeful now. Maybe that sound was me. I try to nod, but I can't.

"Yes!" I'm trying to say, but it comes out as a rumble again.

"Squeeze my hand, Max." He says, and I try to tell him that I don't know where his hand is, but I'm suddenly focused on a tingly sensation on my right hand. I can't even see myself, but I can feel pressure on where my right hand should be. I squeeze as hard as I can, to let him know that I'm okay, I can hear him, I'm alive.

I guess it works, because a second later Fang audibly sighs. "Max," He breathes.

"How is she?" I hear a different voice say. It takes longer for me to place this one, even though I've known it for almost just as long as I've known Fang. It's Iggy, I think.

"She moved. She can hear us." Fang says.

"Max?" Iggy asks. If I could feel his hand, I would totally squeeze it too. I can't, and moving wouldn't really help, since he can't see.

"Yeah." I say, and although my words are really soft, you can definitely tell what I'm saying.

"I can hear her thoughts!" I hear another voice exclaim. Angel. _Angel, can you hear me?_

_Yes! I can hear you, Max!_

_I'm okay, I think. _It's weird to only hear thoughts, and not see or feel or anything else.

_Yeah, you were hurt pretty bad. We won, though! Iggy got a new skill!_

_Oh yeah? _I think. _What?_

_He's super fantastic at fighting. He destroyed the others. It was almost scary; I'm so glad he's on our side. _

_Yeah, he's pretty awesome. _I agree. I force myself to open my eyes, but I still can't see anything. If anything, the whiteness is sharper, the pain in my head stronger, and the throbbing ache in my chest faster. A minute later, the longest minute of my life, I finally see blurry shapes. I blink a few times, and Fang's concerned face comes into focus.

"Max!" Angel says happily, and I turn my head to look at her. I turn it too fast, apparently, because I see whiteness for another second before my vision clears.

"Hey." I manage to croak, and this time I can hear myself.

Iggy, being the ever persistent doctor, checks my pulse and all that shmancy stuff before allowing himself to smile. "You're okay!" It's both an announcement and a relieved shout.

"How long-" My voice breaks into a fit of coughing. I try again. "How long was I out?"

"Not long, maybe five hours or so."

FIVE HOURS? Not cool. It's too late to do anything about it, though, so I divert the conversation to something else.

"Where are Nudge and Gazzy?"

"Getting food." Fang says quietly. I can still see the concern in his eyes. Iggy must feel the look that Fang and I exchange, because even though he can't see, he understands that something has passed between us.

"Come on Angel, let's find some berries or something to go with whatever Nudge and the Gasman bring." He says, and they both leave the cave. The minute they leave, Fang gathers me into a huge hug.

I hug him back as tight as I can, not allowing myself to wince at the pain.

"You promised." He whispered, and it sounds more hurt than angry, which is worse. "You promised you wouldn't do anything like that ever again."

"I know," I murmur into his ear. "I know." There's no point in denying it, or saying it wasn't my fault. I know what he means, and I know firsthand how scared he must have been. Fang draws back, and lifts my shirt up to trace the scar on my stomach. Because of our advanced healing, it's not open anymore, but it's still red and raw and sore.

I shiver under his touch. His hand lingers on my abdomen, and my eyes flicker down before coming back to meet his. I lean forward, not to kiss him, but to say something. Our foreheads are touching when I finally say, "I'm sorry."

He closes the gap between our lips and I let myself just sit there for a second before kissing him back. There's a flutter of pain in my crushed ribs, but I offer no resistance as he pulls me ever closer, as if any distance between our bodies is fatal. His hands are tangled in my hair, and mine are around his neck and shoulders, too tired to do anything else.

I break apart a second later, laughing a breathless laugh. Fang smiles in return. I'm torn between going to the rest of my family and kissing him longer, but I decide on the former. I stand up, only to slowly sit back down when I feel sort of dizzy.

"Careful." Fang laughs, knowing I'm not in any real pain.

I scowl at him. He laughs again, and it lets me know as to just how relieved he is.

"I'm okay, in case you cared." I snap, getting up again, this time slowly. Fang raises his hands in mock surrender, but we're both really just playing along.

We walk out of the cave (Well, he walks and I hobble). It turns out Gazzy and Nudge had gotten back, and there was a small fire and something really yummy-smelling on the stove.

"Max! You're okay!" Nudge squeals, and Gazzy looks up from his backpack.

"Max!" He choruses, and runs over to hug me. Nudge is right behind them, and I barely have a second to brace myself for their hug/tackle.

"Yup, I'm okay." I huff out, hoping my voice sounds stronger to them than it does to me. The concerned glance Fang sends my direction does nothing to reassure me of this.

"Here's some soup. Iggy said it was good for sick people when we had it last, so we brought you some!" A beaming gasman hands me a bowl of still steaming soup. I inhale the scent for a moment.

"Mmm, tomato mushroom?" I ask, and Iggy nods in response. Nobody gave me a spoon, so I figure what the heck, and drink the soup right out of the bowl. The first sip burns my tongue, but I don't stop chugging it down. When I realize that I should probably not drain the entire bowl in a single gulp, I set it down and wipe the soup off of my upper lip. Everyone around me is doing the same thing, except Fang, whose looking at me with an amused expression.

Letting my inner six year old show through, I stick my (burned) tongue out at him and resume guzzling down my scrumptious dinner.

After we're all finished, I speak. "Okay guys, we've got to roll. The Martinez's house should be less than an hour away, right?" I direct the last part of my statement to Fang, our navigator. He inclines his head slightly to show his agreement.

"Max," Iggy begins to protest, but I slap my hand over his mouth.

"Nu uh. We've already lost way too much time because of me, so no complaints." I say, and I move my hand.

"Max, hear me out." He whines, and I cross my arms. He did pretty much bring me back from the dead, so I guess I can listen to him.

When he understands that I'm listening, he resumes, "You might feel okay, but the fact that you were out for so long means that there's something wrong in your body."

"And maybe your brain." Gazzy interjects, and when I shoot a glare at him, Fang and Iggy have to stifle their laughter.

"Anyway," Iggy continues, "I'm not saying we shouldn't fly, I'm saying we need to take it slow, and when we get to your mom's house, you need to tell her everything, so that she can treat you for it properly. I didn't do much."

"Deal." I say, and then launch into the air, not looking back to see if they're following me. I circle in the sky, knowing that they'll be packing up before they join me, and sure enough, they are. Fang flies up first, smirking. I'm about to snap at him too, but then I realize I have no reason to (Aw, bummer.) and choose to stay quiet.

The rest of the Flock soon follows, and we're all up in the air. I can feel that each time I beat down with my wings, there's a shoot of pain in my right inner wing, but I force myself to ignore it.

Even though we're taking it slowly, I see my mom's house come into focus less than a mile away in an hour. I smile, because I'm excited to see my mom, Ella and hopefully a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Almost unconsciously, I speed up, eager to get home. Iggy, for once, doesn't object.

I land swiftly and smoothly in the back lawn, since it's already dark out and there are no close, creepy neighbors. When we've all landed and dusted the grime off of our clothes, and made ourselves look more presentable, I knock on the front door.

It must be close to 7 o'clock by now, but there's no answer.

"Maybe they're out." Fang murmurs from beside me, and I agree.

I try the front door, and it's unlocked, so I usher the Flock in, and enter the house behind them. When I shut the door behind me, I can't help but feel a freaky sort of feeling, but I guess that's just my claustrophobia acting up.

"Hopefully they'll be home soon, guys." I call out. "Do whatever, but try not to get hurt or break anything!" The last part is mainly directed to Iggy and Gazzy, since Nudge and Angel will probably go play dolls or something.

_Hey! I'm not that little anymore!_ Angel objects in my mind.

I smile. _Of course not. Now, run along!_

Oh, jeez. I feel like such a mom. An old fashioned one, too. Run along now? Wasn't that common in, oh, I don't know, the 80s?

I collapse on the couch, and Fang sits down next to me. I stare at him for a moment, and then close my eyes.

"Gosh, I'm so tired." I yawn obnoxiously.

"Sleep." Fang suggests.

I'm about to nod and drift off when I realize I have already been asleep for several hours today, where as Fang has fought longer than me and stayed up with me while I was knocked out.

"Nah." I say casually. "I want to be awake for when they come home." By they, I mean my mom and sister. And it's not a total lie.

Fang nods, and we both drift off into our own thoughts, still feeling connected but not talking or touching. Maybe I've even fallen asleep for a little, because the next thing I know, there's a loud beeping noise coming from somewhere. I launch upright at once, ready for a battle or confrontation or whatever might be coming up next.

Beside me, Fang is in an equally defensive position. We stay like that for a second, but then an automated voice comes on and we both begin to laugh. It was the answering machine, reading off its voicemails.

"You have 3 unheard messages. First message. Hello Doctor, your absence has been noted and taken from your vacation time. Hope all is well. Regards, Dr. Phish. End of message. Delete, press 7. Save, press 3. Play again, press 1. Proceed to next message, press 4."

I press 4, and the machine whirs.

"Isn't this illegal? To go through other people's mail?" Fang asks.

I brush him off just as the voice starts again. "Proceeding. Second message. 'Hey, it's me. You know what we talked about last time? I'm totally taking you up on it. We'll be there this time tomorrow, if that's okay. Uh, that's it really. I just wanted to let you know. See you then. Bye!"

It's my own voice, and it's from when I called earlier. I'm confused as to why it's an unheard message, since my mom should have heard it either that day itself or earlier today, at the very latest. The machine is telling me to push a button, so I press 4 again.

"Proceeding. Third message."

The next noise that came from the machine could only be described as a horrible wailing, keening noise. If my ears had been any more sensitive, that would have hurt. Thank god Total wasn't here with us right now, or he'd have given birth to a bovine at this noise.

Then there was heavy breathing, and then, "Don't mess with us." A guttural chuckle sounded in the background, more animal than human.

"Or you'll pay." The chuckle had grown into full out cackling.

"Don't forget. We don't give second chances." There is one last snarl and then an out of place beeping to let me know that the message is over. For some reason, the answering machine doesn't go through the annoying routine it had after the previous two voicemails, which is slightly ominous.

Fang and I exchange a glance, but before I can say anything, the Gasman comes bursting into the kitchen.

"Max? There's something you need to see." He says. "I found this in the bedroom that Iggy and I were in."

He holds up a fang, funny enough.

A wingbeat later, I realize there's nothing funny about it, at all.

It's a fang from the mouth of an Eraser.

…

A/N**- Do you know how hard it is to write fang without capitalizing it as Fang? If there's any Fang/fang mix ups, I apologize in advance.**

**Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you're all having a great time with your families, and try to not get trampled while you go shopping for Black Friday. **

**Reviews, anyone? Can I ask for ten?**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. **

**Fang's POV:  
><strong>

Max and I simultaneously scramble up, but I beat Max there and take the tooth from Gazzy. Up close, there's no doubting it. It's most definitely an Eraser's tooth. Add that with the creepy voicemails, and you've got a heck of a problem in your hands. When I look up, I see that the rest of the Flock has joined us.

"You don't think they…" Nudge trailed off, looking slightly shaken. Next to her, Gazzy looks equally disoriented.

"I do." I said grimly. "Eraser's have kidnapped Dr. Martinez and Ella." I give Max a concerned glance, seeing as she hasn't spoken yet. She's got a half crazy, half determined look in her eyes.

"We'll get them back." Angel says decisively.

"Hell yeah. And we're taking whoever did this down!" Max declares. At least I don't have to worry about her going into shock.

Max walks into the kitchen again, and the rest of the Flock takes that as a signal to leave. Everyone trails off and keeps doing whatever they were doing. I hesitate for a second, but then follow Max. She's leaning against the counter, not crying, but looking pretty darn close.

"Hey," I say, moving closer. "They'll be okay. We'll save them."

She turns to look at me, and her normally warm brown eyes are so unfocused I'm taken aback. She shakes her head, and her eyes return to normal.

"It's not that." She murmurs. "I just want them to be okay. And what if..what if I'm the reason this happened? If I hadn't been stupid enough to tell them I was coming through a phone call, through something so easily traced…" Max trails off again, lost in thought. I move a step closer, if that's even possible.

I cup her face with my hands, forcing her to look at me. "It's not your fault. If they wanted to get at your family, they easily could have. Your call probably didn't matter."

Her eyes are blazing with worry, something I'm more used to. "Fang, they don't want us to get our chips out. They obviously heard the phone call where I said I would come here, and they didn't succeed in stopping us, so they took our destination away from us."

"That first phone call was even before we knew that we all have chips in our arms- not just you. The scientists don't know that we know that. Yeah, they probably didn't want you getting you chip out, or Dr. M to x-ray one of us and figure out we have a chip too. But it's not your fault. They would have done it anyways."

We've reached a stalemate. I won't except that Max caused this, and she won't listen to my logic. For almost a minute, we stare into each others' eyes. But it's less romantic and corny and more like a stare down. I refuse to back down, so Max is the first to look away.

But only for a second. When she looks back, she doesn't look tired and defeated anymore. She looks angry, but still collected. Controlled anger is probably the most dangerous emotion out that, and moments like this make me glad that Max is on my side.

She hugs me, and it's so out of place and random that I sort of just stand there for a second. My arms eventually come around her, pulling her closer to me.

"Fang," She begins, as if to say something else, but she stops there. I murmur unintelligible things into her hair, and I can feel her relax against my chest.

"Hey, lovebirds, Gazzy has a good question." Iggy interrupts our little moment. It's a good thing he's blind; he can't the blush on Max's cheeks or the annoyance on mine at having to draw apart.

"What?" Max asks, patiently. This is why I'm not leader. I'd never have been as nice as that. I probably would have yelled at him, or something.

"What are we doing next? Are we just chilling here, or are we going to bust some Eraser butt?"

"We were just talking about that, actually." Max lies smoothly. Iggy snorts, but Max ignores him and continues. "Flock meeting? Me and Fang couldn't agree."

No, we couldn't. But that's not exactly what we disagreed about.

"Front and center!" Max yells, and I wince as the loudness. Her shout works, though, and within a minute the entire group is gathered around in the kitchen.

"I agreed to let you guys in on making the decisions a little while back. You're all getting older and your input matters to me." She pauses. "A little bit. So, you all know the situation. Anyone have any ideas?"

Gazzy's hand shoots up into the air and I'm instantly wary. "Yes, Gazzy." Max calls on him like a teacher on a particularly mischievous student.

"See, a thought crossed my mind," He begins, but Nudge cuts him off.

"That must have been a short and lonely journey." I have to bit my lip to keep my laugh from escaping, and Max is the same beside me. Iggy is cracking up in the corner, but that's just Iggy for you.

Gazzy glowers at Nudge, but then continues. "I was thinking, why don't we dig around a little more before we shoot off trying to find them? It's not like we have any idea where they might be."

Max nods, accepting the reasoning behind his words. "Good point, Gazzy. I must say, I'm thrilled you came up with an idea that doesn't have bombs behind it."

Max spoke too soon. Gazzy blushes a faint pink and then mutters, "Actually, my plan was to blow up this house, and then threaten the neighbors that we'd blow up their house too, unless they told us everything they know." He stands up straight and beams, as if this is the best idea to cross his mind. Who knows, maybe it is.

Max wisely does not accept this part of his plan. "I don't think my mom would appreciate us blowing up her house, Gaz. But good thinking anyway."

"We could call the vet clinic, to see how long Dr. M's been out. And maybe Ella's school, too. We could _ask_ the neighbors if they've seen anything fishy, and maybe put in a police report just to raise awareness about it." Angel suggests.

Max purses her lips. "Sound good. Not the police report, though, because Itex might expect us to do that."

Angel crosses her arms. "They might expect us to not do it, just because they know we're too smart for that."

"Let's not take a chance. Iggy, Fang, any ideas?"

"I could put something in my blog. So people are on the lookout for anything suspicious." I propose.

"Yeah, do that. Ig?"

"I have quite a many ideas. But most of them involve copious amounts of greasy food and bombs, so it might not fly with you."

Max shakes her head. "Probably not. Unless we get to eat the aforementioned food, and the bombs blow up hundreds of the bad guys."

"I'll get right to it." Iggy says, completely serious. Add that to the list of things Max can do but I can't: get Iggy to genuinely work.

Drat, that puts me 26 behind her. Not that I'm counting, of course.

**Max's POV:**

I clap my hands together. "Okay. Angel and Iggy, find a phone book or something and call up the clinic my mom works at. Make up whatever you need to for the person to tell you how long my mom's been missing from work. Just try not to make it too extravagant or ruin her reputation, please." I add the last bit after seeing a tricky smile start to creep up Iggy's face.

"Gazzy and Fang, figure out what school Ella goes to and call them. Same rules apply." Fang nods at me, and puts his arm around the younger boy as they disappear into Ella's room.

"What about me?" Nudge asks. It's the first time she's spoken up in a while. I smile at her.

"I need you, my devious young hacker, to come with me. Let's see if we can get into Itex website, maybe break into a couple people's email accounts."

Nudge grins and leads me up the stairs and into the room her and Angel were playing in earlier. She closes out of the Club Penguin window that up, and I'm slightly relieved they were playing Club Penguin as opposed to say, Barbie or something.

"What are we looking for, in particular?"

I think for a second and then respond. "The email account of someone important."

Nudge nods. "Okay. So if I go on the Itex website, then I can…oh, yup, there we go. Here's your pick, Max. Which one of these slayers' accounts do you want to hack into?"

She points to a list of Itex highest management staff, also referred to as aging, bald, dorky looking men. I'm not even being sexist; I barely saw a single woman on the list. I narrow my eyes as one name pops out at me while Nudge scrolls.

"Stop." I say, and Nudge pauses. I point to the bold font that reads: **Anne Walker. **

Nudge clicks around, pulls up several important looking, gray boxes and closes out of them equally quickly. A few minutes later, she has Anne's work email.

"Got it!" She sings triumphantly, and I high five her.

"Can you hack into it?" I ask. Nudge stares at me as if I've grown a third eye.

"Of course!" She says, and then Nudge proceeds to click and type furiously. _Beeeeep!_ The computer protests as she clicks log in.

"Come on, come on!" She mutters, typing more commands into the box. Once again, the computer beeps loudly, not letting her access Anne's emails.

A few minutes and 8 beeps later, Nudge slumps in her chair, defeated.

"I can't, Max. I broke through 7 of the firewalls, but the 8th firewall is a super advanced circuit gateway firewall, which denies connections between different networks and IPs. It's normally the least desirable firewall, but since Itex programmed this IP into it, nothing I do will break it. "

O-kay then. I'll just pretend I understood that.

"Okay. What about if we go to the public library? That wouldn't be blocked, right?"

Nudge shakes her head. "We can try it, but I'm pretty sure me trying to access the inner information triggered an alarm in their system. The system automatically would have applied the same firewall to all the computers in the region. Because Itex probably has the best computer equipment, about a 300 mile radius of computers around us is all blocked."

"So-" I begin, but I'm cut off by Fang.

"Max, you might want to see this." He says grimly, and my stomach churns at the words. The last time I hear them, I found out my mom and sister had been kidnapped.

"What now?" I say, not unkindly.

He remains silent but grabs my hand and leads me down the stairs.

"Fang, what's going on?"

Gazzy replies for him. "We have visitors."

My heart beats erratically. Who? Erasers? Cops? My mom?

I'm about to open my mouth and ask who, but suddenly that's no longer necessary.

Standing near the door frame is a man I'd hoped I'd left behind forever.

"Hello, Max. Long time no see." Jeb Batchelder says. Then he crumples to the ground, and I can't see a wound but I see blood staining the carpet.

Geez, talk about a dramatic entrance.

….

**I tried to make it a longer chapter, since I left you at a cliff hanger on the last one. I did do it again, though, so I don't know if that cancels it out.**

**Review! :) Can we get more than ten this time?**


	33. Chapter 33

Sorry for the longer than usual wait! I know a week's not that bad, but I'm going to try to update more often so I can finish this story by the end of this year. It's a big goal though, considering finals are coming up, as well as the holiday season, which means more family time!

Anyhow, on with the story.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

"Crap." I said, and I'm pretty sure that summed up our situation pretty well. I felt mixed up about Jeb- was he good, or evil, neutral, or both at his own convenience? But I didn't like death, especially human death. So I knelt down and flipped Jeb over so that he was face up.

His eyes were closed, and his mouth slightly open and slack. I don't know where he was coming from, but I did want to know how. Jeb was covered in scrapes, bruises, and cuts. The real bugger, though, was the gaping bullet wound in his stomach. Have you ever noticed how so many fatal wounds happen in the abdomen/stomach area?

There's actually a reason for that. Hitting the heart is a hard target- and if you miss, hitting the shoulder will not take an experienced fighter down. Neck is too hard for the same reason, and it's easy for someone to duck and avoid the shot, kick, punch, or slash. The legs are obviously not the best choice, because it's painful, but not life-threatening. If you hit someone in the stomach, there are plenty of important organs to damage. Aim too high and the shot will hit the heart, chest, or windpipe, which are all lethal areas to attack. Too low, and you'll hit their crotch. It's a little underhanded, but effective nonetheless.

And that's why people shoot at the stomach. Because it's near impossible to live after you've been shot more than once in the stomach. Since we have the best luck ever, Jeb had not one, or two, but three clean holes where bullets had passed through his stomach, liver, and diaphragm.

He wasn't exactly one of my favorite people in the world, but he had been a father to me for years. It's not something that is easily forgettable. Even if he had turned out to be a bad apple, he had been important to me long enough that I owed him something. More likely than not, my Flock and I had some part in his almost-death. So I would help, as best as I can.

"Get Iggy. Get water. Get bandages and Neosporin and whatever else Iggy says we need." I say, my voice surprisingly un-shaky. Nudge, Gazzy and Angel rise to follow my instructions. Fang crouches down beside me. He puts his hand lightly on mine.

"You holding up okay?" He asks, his eyes glistening with an emotion I can't quite discern.

"I think so." I nod. I open my mouth to say something else but am cut off by a loud groan from Jeb.

"Max." He croaks, and I lean down to hear him better.

"Jeb." I say softly, not sure what to say or do. "What happened?" Maybe it's not the most sensitive thing to do, asking somebody how they were beaten up when they're close to dying, but I want answers. And as biatchy as it makes me sound, I want answers from him before he dies.

Jeb coughs once again and forces his eyes open. His blue eyes are startlingly familiar. They were the same eyes I had grown up with, the same eyes that I used to see every day of my life.

"I've always wanted the best for you, Max." He whispers. "You have to believe me, hear me out."

I nod, not exactly trusting him but not questioning him either.

"I joined the School fresh out of college. I needed a job. I needed money, since I had a fall out with my parents and couldn't live with them. I never saw their experiments- I was a dietician and a doctor who never interacted with them. I was just their scientist, with no idea of how unmoral they were truly being. One day, I was assigned to bring a meal to their most prized creation- you, Max."

I blinked, and waved with my hand, motioning for him to go on.

"I met you for the first time that day, and I was disgusted at what they did to you. I fell in love with you, though. With your adorableness. You don't know this, but I had a little sister, who was ten years younger than me. She had severe osteogenesis imperfecta, a disease where her bones were so brittle they would break if she bent over. She died when I was 17 years old, and I decided to throw myself into research, to find a cure. You reminded me of her, and every time I saw you cry, saw you be dragged away for another test, I saw her crying, her being tortured." One small tear leaked out of Jeb's eye and made its way down his blood-streaked face.

"Since that first day, I decided I would break you out. And to that, I had to worm my way into the School's affections. They don't let just anybody work with their experiments, you know. Several years later, I had proved to them my ingeniousness, and my skill. They let me in on the highest secret, which was considered an honor.

"Their most successful mutants had one flaw- they had independent minds. That wasn't meant to be, did you know that? You were supposed to be like Flyboys. Narrow minded, with no personality of your own. It didn't work out, did it?' He smiled a watery smile at me, and I smiled back, squeezing his hand in reassurance.

"At first, the scientists were going to fix it. But then they realized that it was a gift in disguise. You were no longer only science experiments- you were also psychological experiments. It was a double whammy for them. But they still needed some way to control you, so they put chips into you. Last week, the other white coats had a breakthrough in Death Valley, with a new technology, Eraser 2.0. Those were the enhanced, smart monsters set after you yesterday. I tried to stall that as long as I could, but the Director soon caught on.

"She was suspicious. A friend distracted the other scientists and I programmed the fighting skill into Iggy. And then _she_ showed up, armed with a gun, and this happened." He gestured vaguely to himself.

"Are you the Voice?" I asked, my voice breaking in three different places.

Jeb just shook his head, looking too exhausted to speak.

Jeb's time was up, and I knew it. At some point, the rest of my family had come back and was now gathered around me, around Jeb. But even Iggy wasn't trying to impose his doctorly skills, because one thing living on the run teaches you is about death. I had seen it, caused it, tried to stop it, and almost experienced it myself. And now it was time for me to accept it. And know that in the end, Jeb was a good person. And if there was a heaven, I'd do my best to meet him there.

"Max," Jeb mumbled. "Max."

"Shhh…" I soothed, stroking his hair. "You're okay, you're okay." I crooned. It wasn't until Fang wiped a tear off my cheek that I realized I was crying.

"No, Max, I have to tell you…" His voice literally gurgled, and his eyes glossed over, which was really sort of scary.

I stared into his eyes, trying to pour my feelings into it, since I didn't have the right words. Jeb has been a father to me. He was my actual father, if I had understood him correctly that time so long ago. At one point, I'd hoped so much that he was my father. After he left, and we thought he died, I still wished he could have been. When we realized he was alive, I hated him. I was repulsed by his trickery. Later, after he helped us to escape, I was thoroughly confused. I had decided, though, to never let an adult get close to me, ever. Because it could only end in pain.

I was wrong. Jeb had always told me he would take a bullet for any us. He always said we were most important thing ever, to him. He said that we gave his life meaning. I believed him then, and I believe him now. He had proved himself to be a good person, if slightly misguided at times. I mean, weren't we all? Could any one person say they were perfect? And in saying that, they are imperfect, because thinking one is perfect is a problem in itself.

Jeb had never said he was perfect. Nor had I expected him to be.

But you know what? He was pretty darn close.

"Max." Jeb muttered, trying to get my attention. I forced myself to stare directly into his eyes, no matter how much pain it caused me. Surprisingly enough, his eyes were firm, and determined, and not at all weak. "I'll try." The father of my dreams winked at me, and then closed his eyes for the last time.

Fang looked slightly confused at Jeb's last words. I'll try? Don't most people say I love you? But I knew what he meant. A long time ago, when I was 11 years old, Jeb and I had watched the Return to Neverland movie together. Everyone else was off swimming, but I had torn my wing and couldn't move it, so I had to stay home. There's a song called "I'll Try." in it, and at the time, I told him it was my favorite song.

He remembered.

This time, I felt it as hot tears filled my eyes. Ducking my head, for the first time in my life, I allowed myself to let them pour out in front of my Flock. Fang slipped his hand into mine, I squeezed slightly, glad for the comfort. I slid my other hand into Nudge's, who was next to me. When I turned to look at her, her normally bubbly face was streaked with tears, her hair bushy and tangled, the cut on her cheek probably stinging like hell from the salt water.

Across from me, on the other side of Jeb, were Angel and Gazzy. Gazzy was hugging Angel, who was bawling freely. Gazzy's dirt-smudged face had two clean trails down his cheeks from tears. He rocked Angel as he hugged her, looking so terrified and young, younger than the first time Jeb had left us.

Iggy was sort of by himself, looking disturbed. He wasn't crying, but the sadness in his sightless eyes was gut wrenching. I rose up from where I was leaning on Fang to hug Iggy. He hugged me back, his hands desperately grabbing at me like I was his lifeline.

After several minutes of embracing, he pulled apart from me. I was shocked to see his eyes glistening.

"He needs you." Iggy whispered, and when I looked at Fang, I understood what he meant. Fang was standing over Jeb, his face completely blank. Normally, no emotion is worse than a surplus of it. I have no idea how Iggy knew this, but I rose once again and stood next to Fang silently. If he noticed me, he made no sign of acknowledgement.

I don't know how long we stood there, but eventually Angel pulled away from Gazzy and ran up the stairs to her room. Nudge looked torn for a heartbeat, but soon went after her.

Gazzy scooted next to Iggy and murmured something to him. Iggy said something back too lowly for me to catch it, but whatever it was, it put a hesitant smile of the Gasman's face.

Gazzy also ducked into the first floor bedroom he had been playing in earlier. Iggy, even though he can't see, turned to face me and then turned to face Gazzy.

"He needs you." I whispered, echoing his words from earlier. Iggy, look troubled, nodded and followed after the Gasman.

It was just me and Fang. We stood there for some time longer, neither of us saying anything, when Fang suddenly turned to me and wrapped me in a huge embrace. I hugged him back, feeling the familiar tug of tears start in the back of my eyes. Sure enough, I started crying into Fang's shoulder, and Fang pulled me closer, tightening his hold on me.

One of his hands came up and started stroking my hair, the other rubbing circles on the small of my back, between my wings. Both of my hands were wrapped around his shoulders. A couple minutes later, figuring he had enough of my blubbering, I pulled away.

"Thanks." I said, but he made no reply. There was a long break before he finally broke the silence.

"I don't know." he said lowly, harshly, "I don't know what I'm supposed to feel. I want to love him, to hate him, to forget him. I don't know."

I started chewing on my lip, unsure of how to respond. There was another long pause in our conversation before I finally figured out what I wanted to say. "A little bit of all of it, I think. You don't have to know."

Fang nods. He takes both of my hands in his, but he's looking away from me, at Jeb.

"I can do that." He says eventually. "But I'll need help."

This is largely out of character for Fang, admitting he needs help. Fang thinks of himself as a big boy, and he never wants to make me worry. What he doesn't realize is that I worry more because he never tells me when he needs something.

I stroke his cheek gently, and he closes his eyes. "I'll need you." Fang whispers.

I choose my next words carefully. "That sounds exactly right, because I need you."

Fang leans in so that our foreheads touch.

"Perfect." He mutters, so softly that I wonder if I've even heard him correctly. But he's right. This is as close to perfect as we could possibly get.

…

**A/N- I rewrote that chapter 4 times and I still am not completely happy with the way it turned out, but oh well. **

**These are the lyrics to the song I'll Try, in the movie Return to Neverland:**

**I am not a child now.  
>I can take care of myself.<br>I mustn't let them down now-  
>Mustn't let them see me cry.<br>I'm fine.  
>I'm fine.<br>I'm to tired to listen.  
>I'm too old to believe:<br>All these childish stories.  
>There is no such thing as faith,<br>And trust,  
>And pixie dust.<br>I try,  
>But its to hard to believe.<br>I try,  
>But I can't see what you see.<br>I try.  
>I try.<br>I try.  
>My whole world is changing,<br>I don't know where to turn.  
>I can't leave you baby,<br>But I cant stay and watch the sitting burn;  
>Watch it burn.<br>'Cause I try,  
>But its so hard to believe!<br>I try,  
>But I can't see where you see.<br>I try.  
>I try.<br>I try and try,  
>To understand,<br>The distance in between:  
>The love I feel,<br>The things i fear,  
>I dearly say good dream.<br>I can finally see it.  
>Now I have to believe:<br>All those precious stories.  
>All the world is made of faith,<br>And trust,  
>And pixie dust.<br>So I'll try,  
>'Cause I finally believe!<br>I'll try,  
>'Cause I see where you see!<br>I'll try.  
>I'll try!<br>I'll try!  
>I'll try-<br>To fly**

**Review!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**For those of you who haven't already, check out my other two shot :D I wrote it for the holidays. **

**Max's POV:**

Our little moment is broken when I hear a high pitched scream. _Oh, no!_ I think, because the only two in our Flock who can even reach that high of a note is Angel or Nudge. I sprint up the stairs towards their room, and Fang is right behind me.

"What's happening?" Iggy shouts, coming out of his room and somehow grabbing the end of Fang's shirt. He follows into the room where Angel and Nudge are. By the dark blue walls and Harry Potter and Twilight posters, I can tell that this is Ella's room. Nudge is collapsed on the floor next to the closet, and Angel in is tears next to her.

"I don't know what happened!" She sobbed. "One minute we were both just hugging and crying and then Nudge leaned on that doorframe"- she points to the closet- "and then she fainted. I can't even hear her!"

I'm on the floor in an instant, checking Nudge's heartbeat and pulse. When I lay my ear against her chest, I immediately relax, just a little bit. She is shaking like a leaf. There is a fast but strong heart beat thumping sort of erratically, as if something had scared Nudge. But what could have scared Nudge that Angel didn't see?

Unless it wasn't something to see. Unless Nudge had felt something with her power that was strong enough to make her collapse, like the sadness at the Vietnam memorial that one time. Nudge stopped shaking for a brief moment. Then with one last shudder, her eyes opened, only to shut again immediately.

"Nudge, sweetie?" I ask. "You okay?"

Nudge coughed. "I'm okay." She says, her voice surprisingly strong for someone who had just fainted.

"What happened?" Fang demands, ever the tactful one. I turn and shoot him a glare, but the corner of Nudge's lips rise in a half smile.

"Nah, it's okay, Max. I should probably tell you guys, anyway." Nudge reassures me. I narrow my eyes at Fang, more for fun than anything else, and then turn back to face Nudge.

Nudge begins her story. "When I felt the doorframe, I felt a residue of like, a terrible anger, and evil. Kind of like the sadness at the Vietnam memorial, but it was evil, and scary. I think it was an Eraser's feelings. Not Ari and his cronies, but one of those Big Uglies." Nudge pauses, and Iggy thoughtfully hands her a glass of water.

She drains it in one big gulp, wiping her mouth. "Thanks," She mutters, before resuming her tale. "There was something else, too. Do you remember how Jeb was saying he had been in Death Valley? The Eraser also had a sort of weariness to heat, as if he was sick and tired of hotness, and Arizona wasn't any better. That's what I feel when touch here-" Nudge interrupts herself to touch the door knob. She shivers at contact, but keeps going. "and I think that they've kidnapped Ella and her mom, and that's where they've taken them, to Death Valley."

I nod absently, lost in though. The fact that Nudge could tell this much from a single touch meant that her powers were growing, exponentially. Ordinarily, I'd be thrilled, but now that we knew that the white coats controlled our powers, I wasn't so sure what to think. Did they want us to go to Death Valley?

Nudge coughs pointedly, jolting me out of my reverie. "Max?" She looks at me expectantly.

"Sorry, what?" I ask.

"I think we should go to Death Valley. You know, to rescue Dr. M and Ella." Nudge beams at me, proud of herself for finding out such an important piece of the puzzle. I force myself to smile, even though I'm sure it's several seconds delayed.

"You're definitely onto something, kiddo." I ruffle her tangled mess that she calls hair, and smile again, for real this time. I can't help it, because Nudge is grinning like the Cheshire cat, and I find it contagious.

"You're definitely okay, right?" Angel asks.

Nudge nods vigorously, as if to prove it. "Of course! I don't even know why I fainted, it's really silly. I felt a flash of headache, and next thing I knew, I was waking up from fainting."

Fang and I exchange a glance at this, but we try to conceal our expressions so we don't rain on the kids' parade. After all, there's little for them to be happy about.

…**.**

After Fang had ushered the kids out, and sent them out to do some minor jobs, he grabbed me and Iggy and pulled us into Dr. M's room, and onto the bed.

"Going a little fast, aren't you Fang?" Iggy asks cheekily, and Fang throws a pillow at him.

"Shut up! We need to talk." Fang glowers at Iggy, although it's wasted on him.

"Yeah." I say deeply, and helpfully.

Fang takes a deep breath, as if we're not being so perfectly well behaved and nice. I can't speak for Iggy, but I've been a total saint.

"Don't you think it's a little…convenient that the moment we reach a dead end, Nudge finds all this new information?"

"It's a stroke of luck." Iggy says, not quite understanding what he is getting at.

"Well, yeah, I guess so. But since when have we been lucky? Don't forget, Jeb said that Itex has control of our chips, and powers. Nudge's power was faint, and then suddenly, today, it increases to the stage where she can tell where we go next?" Fang's tone is incredulous, and it's like a light bulb goes off in my head; everything clicks into place.

"You think it's a trap." I say softly, and both the boys turn and stare at me.

"Yeah." Fang breathes. "I know that you want to rescue your family. But we have to be smart about it."

I blink several times, trying to think of a reason for us to go to Death Valley. If I think about it logically, Fang's idea makes sense, and we shouldn't just run into the Itex headquarters and try to bust my mom and sister out. But when people you love are in danger, thinking logically isn't high on your priority list.

"They don't know about Jeb. They probably didn't think he would live, much less drag himself all the way to Arizona and tell us everything." Even to myself, my argument sounds pathetic.

Fang simply raises an eyebrow at me.

"You know, he does have a point, Max." Iggy looked nervous, as if I would bite his head off.

"No!" I shout. "I'm going to save my mom and sister! You don't know how it feels, to love somebody because you know that they love you back no matter what, and to have a place to call home, and have a comfort and a parent and a family!" My voice changed from angry and passionate to broken and needy. I hated every second of it, because I hate seeming upset.

Fang eyed me calmly, and waited till he was sure I was finished. "_We_ are your family, Max. We know how all of that feels. I'm not saying we shouldn't rescue your other family. I'm saying we should plan it out, or you just might lose everybody you love."

Fang's words, although he means them kindly, and gently, are like a slap in the face. "Fine." I say, rubbing my nose. "Fine, whatever. Do whatever you want." I turn, but Iggy grabs my wrist with uncanny precision.

"Max, chill. If we're your family, and they're your family, we're all family. And you of all people should know that in our family, there's a no man left behind policy." His sightless blue eyes feel like they're boring into the back of my skull. This is too deep for me to handle, so I retort sarcastically to turn the conversation back into less dangerous waters.

"No _man_ left behind? Way to let your inner sexist pig show through, Iggy."

Fang's lips turn up into a half smirk, his version of a grin. He knew that my light comment meant we were okay.

We would always be.

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><p><strong>Aaannnnd, it's my birthday! You should review for me as a present :D<strong>


	35. Chapter 35

**40 chapters. It's settled. And good golly gosh, this chapter was shoooooort! Sorry about that, but I have exams this week and I actually wasn't planning on writing at all.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Fang's POV:**

"That's it right there." I say, pointing to a cluster below us. There are a few scattered buildings, and one light pole, but for the majority, it's all just stone and sand and dirt. It's so sunny that there's a glare off of the almost blindingly bright sand, making it so that you can't look down. I can pretty much see the steam coming off the ground, and I immediately realize that we've picked one of the hottest days to come to Death Valley.

Max flies closer to me, probably to see where I'm pointing.

"You're sure?" She asks, not facing me but angling her head ever so slightly.

"Yeah." I reply confidently. Even though are tracking systems are shot, Google maps will never fail me.

"Isn't Death Valley huge? How are you sure that this is the exact spot?" Max retorts, challenging me.

I gesture around us. "Do you see any other buildings?" Max looks around, and I know she knows she's lost. There is no other building around us for miles, and since not everybody has handy dandy wings, they couldn't have just stayed in a cave or crevasse.

"Lead the way, smartypants." Max grumbles, swatting me with her hand halfheartedly. I catch her hand and hold it against my cheek.

"After you, grouchypuss." I grin, knowing that my statement probably ruined the cuteness of my action.

Max sticks her tongue out at me and starts to swoop down. I stay hovering for a moment, making sure everybody else got the memo and followed her, and then I arch down behind my family.

Max leads us to a clearing (technically, everywhere is a clearing) about a mile away from the buildings.

"What's the plan?" Angel calmly asks, as if we're discussing the events for the weekend.

"It's still a work in progress." Max admits. "Any ideas?"

"The last time you said that, and we gave our opinion, you completely blew us off and decided to bully us to come here right away anyways. Even though it's 98% definitely a trap." Iggy mumbles.

"Ig, that's not true! If I had it my way, we'd already be in there, guns ablaze and kicking butt! This planning business is the compromise."

Gazzy, who apparently hasn't been listening, jumps up excitedly. "Guns? That's awesome! What kind?"

Nudge rolls her eyes, "It's a figure of speech, dummy."

"Oh." Gazzy says, immediately disinterested.

"Angel, can you get a reading on anybody?" I ask.

Angel shakes her head. "Nobody but the six of us. Maybe if we go closer, I'll be able to tell better."

We all nod and agree and start walking towards the Itex's headquarters. We're walking because flying will attract too much attention to us, and we have to make sure we're not seen. At least, not yet. Once we get closer, we'll make up the plan as we go along.

A few minutes later, I can feel the sweat trickling down my back and it's super uncomfortable. I'm used to being hot, but this is a new level entirely. The heat makes me wish for a nice, cold drink of lemonade. With ice, and one of those little umbrellas on the top. How do people survive in this heat? I think about this for a second and then realize that there's probably a reason this place is called Death Valley.

Maybe people didn't survive.

Shaking my head to rid it of all this morbid thoughts, I walk a little faster to catch up with Max. Nudge, who had been walking by her, drops back unconvincingly slyly, probably to give us 'time alone' or something equally cheesy.

Max raises an eyebrow at me. "You look uncomfortable." She remarks.

"It's hot." My voice sounds dangerously like Iggy's when he gets whiny.

"Maybe if you didn't wear black on black jeans." She quips, looking me up and down. I hang my head; there's no use denying it. I look enviously at her bright yellow tank top and frayed denim shorts.

"Are you suggesting I wear clothes like yours?"

Max rolls her eyes. "No, dummy. I mean, you need to wear a t shirt, preferably white, on guy shorts. You know, the knee length kind."

My eyes widen in mock horror. "W-w-wh-white?" I stutter.

Max laughs. "I'm going to choose your clothes for you next time we go shopping."

It's my turn to roll my eyes. "Okay, mom."

Max just keeps grinning at me, too happy to glare.

"Okay, spill. What's with the excessive happiness?" I demand, sure that she's playing some sort of trick on me.

"Who, me? You mean I'm not always this bright and sunny and cheerful?" She puts on her best innocent face, but let's face it. Max? Innocent? In the same sentence?

Nope.

Never.

"That's an understatement." Iggy says from my left. I jump, not having noticed him.

Max stares at me in amazement. "Ig, you just startled Fang!"

Iggy grins. "I finally got one over Fangy? Oh, frabjous day!"

I do my best to glare at them, but I might as well not bother. It is wasted on Iggy, and I can't stay mad at Max for long.

"I can hear them!" Angel shouts, and we all whirl around to face her.

"What do you hear?" Max asks urgently.

Angel sways for a second before responding, so I run over to her and hold her upright. "Thanks, Fang. Uh, it's a really big jumbled mess. I can hear-" She breaks off for a second, concentrating, and then resumes- " a ton of mundane thoughts. Just about daily experiments, I hate Dr. B, I'm so stressed, that sort of thing."

"Can you try to single out The Director?" I suggest.

Angel nods, and squeezes her eyes tightly. "She's thinking about the heat. And the view from her office. Oh, wait, yes! She's on the fourth floor. she just thought 'I love having an office on the top floor.' And also" She suddenly stops once again, but this time goes deathly pale.

"Angel, sweetie, what's wrong?" Max asks. Behind her, the Gasman also look equally worried about his sister.

"She saw us, Max. She saw us from her fourth story window."

* * *

><p><strong>Review in compensation for my almost definitely failing exam grade in Biology tomorrow!<strong>

**Well, actually, I'm going to go study my butt off so I don't fail. But you should review anyways. :)**


	36. Chapter 36

**Gah, I am so tired of this story. I have to force myself to write it; it's not as fun anymore. Brace yourself for another short, crappy chapter, because I'm sick. :(**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

All heads turn to me after Angel's frightening proclamation, waiting for my response.

I hesitate, and then ask, "What's she thinking now?"

Angel pauses momentarily before responding. "She's…curious, as to why we're here, when it's-" Angel breaks off, and the suspense is killing me.

"What?" Gazzy bursts out, unable to wait.

Angel exchanges a dark look with me. "She closed her mind."

I swear mentally, but try my best to keep my composed look on the outside. "Keep going." I say, and I keep walking. Angel, Nudge and Gazzy follow immediately, and so does Fang, but Iggy holds back.

"Max." He hisses when I refuse to acknowledge him. I nonchalantly move back until I'm by him, and Fang takes my place leading the gang.

"What?"

Iggy's eyes are blazing with something- anger, maybe? - but I can't make out exactly what.

"We're going to die, in there. If they're expecting us, we have no chance against an army. It's a trap, Max!"

I set my jaw. "I'm going to save my family, Iggy. We've been over this already."

"No, we haven't! You've decided to do it, and they are going to follow you. I'm a big boy, Max, you said so yourself. I can handle it. But I don't want them hurt because you're being selfish!"

Maybe the best thing to do would have been to say something to calm both of down, before this could escalate any further, but I was mad. Mad that all I was trying to do was help other people, and Iggy was calling me selfish.

"I'm selfish? _I'm _selfish!" I whisper-shouted back. "I'm risking my life to save people, and you're calling me selfish?"

"It's not just your life that you're risking. Six lives for two? How exactly does that work out?" Iggy's words cut me like a sword. He's right, of course, but we've never looked at saving lives with such a calculating mind.

And Iggy's never complained before, so something must be up. Forcing myself to swallow my anger, I say as calmly as I can, "What's wrong, Ig?"

"Everything! But this time, it's the fact that you're leading us head first into a trap, and you're fully aware of it."

"If I have anything to say about it, Iggy, six of us will go in, and eight of us will come out."

"Fine." Iggy spits. "Fine, whatever, Max. Kid yourself that you're actually considering our opinions, and bust in there, and break out your oh-so-dear family, and we'll all come out singing Kumbaya."

"It's not going to be easy, Iggy. But since when have we always taken the easy way out?" With this, I storm away from him, and walk next to Fang. I'm sure that everyone is more than aware of our argument, and probably even heard it, but I'm so mad I can barely think.

'You okay?" Fang mumbles.

I exhale. "Fine."

Fang nods, accepting my blatant lie.

As we get closer, everyone starts fidgeting, even me. I'm waiting for a group of Flyboys to come out and attack us or something to happen so I can retaliate. This planning, strategizing part, I'm not good at.

"There's guards outside, Max. They're humans, and they're thinking that they have to capture, but can't hurt us." Angel informs me.

"Humans?" I say, crinkling my nose. Although that makes my job ten times easier, there's something quite underhanded about fighting regular humans.

"Hmm." Angel nods. "And the thoughts from everyone else is a jumbled mess, but instead of 'let's hurt the bird kids!' it's more like 'hurry and finish preparing, the subjects are here!'"

"I don't like the sound of that," I say, more to myself than anything.

"No, me neither." Iggy adds, glaring at me with barely disguised anger. I roll my eyes, not wanting to get into it again. I don't know why my always happy, grinning, sexist, blind pyromaniac was so disagreeable, but I would get to the bottom of it.

Right after I got my mom and sister out alive.

You have to prioritize, you know?

Suddenly, I hear a whirring and I crack my neck when I whirl around so fast to see what it is.

"You are the one called Max?" The guy asks. He looks like he's in his 40s, with a salt-and-pepper sprinkled hair, a friendly smiling face and the beginning of a beer gut poking through. His clean shaven face is even creepier looking than one with a dodgy mustache, though, and there's no such thing as a friendly adult, so I'm wary.

"Not only am I called Max, I also am Max, which is something you could never even get close to achieving." I snap back, going for the intimidating front. I cross my arms, and I know that behind me, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel and Iggy have done the same. We don't practice it or anything, but it's pretty darn scary when we all do it together. Fang doesn't move, but just glares, which is probably frightening enough on its own. But coupled with my posture and death stare, I know that we look like this man's worst night mare.

He gulps, and takes a step back. "I'm to bring you to the lab." He stutters.

I gesture with my hand. "By all means, lead the way." I say scathingly. The man looks relieved, like he can't believe that we'd give in so easily. Lucky for him, we actually do need to get inside, and this is a perfect way to do it.

He looks around nervously before slowly walking towards the building. We follow him without speaking.

When he gets to the entrance, he pulls out his ID, and I squint to make out what it is. '_Jonny Johnson'_ It reads, and I barely conceal my snort. I'm pretty sure it comes out instead as a weird, sneezing noise, because Fang and Nudge both look at me, alarmed.

The guards let him in and don't spare us another glance. Actually, nobody in the entire building looks at us, which at first, I think is pretty freaky. We're probably the most important thing to walk in there, not to sound cocky or anything, and they don't even look at us, much less ogle like they normally do? Then I realize that the air of nonchalance is faked. The people walking by us are sweating, their eyes darting around nervously, and some of their fists and jaws and temples twitching unknowingly.

I look around at the facility, plotting out any escapes we might need to use. It's a large building, kind of like the Ministry of Magic, but white. There are plenty of windows to bust out of, but on closer inspection, I realize that they all open out to another room, not to outside. The rooms outside of the windows can't even fit a broom, and then my heart starts to sink.

There are weight bars attached to every door, and the only way I see people moving in and out of them if with ID passes and retina scans. Worst of all is the smell of disinfectant, the pristine white, and the sound of metal on mental. My world literally spins as I flashback to those horrible days in the School before Jeb broke us out. The days before I found my Flock.

It feels like the world is twisting around me, or maybe I'm just falling. I lose sight of my Flock and have to bite down a scream. The walls, the ones that seemed so spacious and big earlier are closing in on me, and my breath hitches in my throat. Panicking, I try to breathe, but I can't, and once again, I'm falling, falling, falling.

"Max." Fang whispers soothingly out of the darkness. He grabs my hand and squeezes hard, and I use the pressure to bring myself back to the present. I bite my lip, hating to look weak. I knew I had just hand another claustrophobia panic attack, and luckily, nobody but Fang had noticed.

"We're here!" Jonny announces cheerfully, as if he's some tour guide pointing out the safari.

I put on my bored face and tap my foot impatiently.

Jonny's face turns dark. "I could have you killed like this." He snaps his fingers for emphasis. "So watch it, mutt."

I grinned, remembering a conversation I had had with Ari so long ago. I had won then, and I would win know. "At least get your animals right, Jon Jon. I'm a bird. So are they. You're a pathetic excuse for a human. Capiche?"

"My name is Dr. Johnson." He says, as if my endearing nickname is all he heard.

"Yeah, Jon Jon. That's what Max said." Fang's lips don't move, so Jonny looks around for a second before realizing who spoke.

"You-you." He stumbles. "I thought you were mute!"

Fang shrugs. "That's what I tell people. It's easier that way. But sometimes, I make an exception for people who are going to die soon anyway."

Ouch, that's my boy!

I watch as Jonny falters, blushing. "You can't kill me. I can have you killed-"

"Like this." Iggy snaps his fingers. "We get it, Jon Jon."

"And you're supposed to be blind! How did you see me snap my fingers earlier." Jonny practically shouts. There is nobody around us anymore, and I realize it is the perfect opportunity for us to split up and search for my mom.

_ANGEL!_ I think. _As soon as I grab this guy by his shirt, we need to split up and look for Dr. M. Pairs of two, okay? You and Fang search the first floor, Iggy and Gazzy can take the second, and me and Nudge will go up to the third floor. You're going to be our only communication, so keep a mental ear out for everyone. Can you tell everyone that?_

I see Angel nod out of the corner of my eye.

"There's this thing called ears, Jonnyboy." Iggy is saying. The conversation has kept moving, and I smile in spite of myself. Even if Iggy didn't like this plan, he sure knew how to cooperate. The best way to catch someone off guard is to talk while you do it, because they expect you to finish your sentence before you attack.

_Everyone's in, Max._ Angel says in my head.

I nod, more to myself than anything, and step forward.

"Jon, there's just one thing about all this that confuses me."

"And what's that?" Jonny asks smugly, since I've abstained from using his nickname.

"How can you be a top notch scientist, with a PhD, and still be so stupid?" I can't resist taking one last jibe at this annoying white coat.

"I…I-I…" He splutters.

"But I guess I can answer myself, Jon. You don't have to be-" I cut myself off, and grab him by the shirt. He's a few inches shorter than me, and weighs about double, but I can easily lift him off the ground a few inches to meet his eyes at eye level.

I see everyone except Nudge split up and run off behind me. "What do you want with us? Why do you have no backup? And where are my mom and sister?" I say, shaking him for emphasis.

"N-n-no idea." He whimpers, and I'm again struck by how pathetically breakable he is. Rolling my eyes, I shake out my wings and float up in the air. The ceiling is impossibly high, so I get a good ten feet of the ground, just to scare him.

"Wrong answer. I'll give you one more chance."

"I really d-don't know."

I let go of his collar and he falls about two feet, screaming, before Nudge catches his arm. I help her, since he's chubby enough that she can't carry him by herself.

Grabbing his collar again, I slam him against a wall.

"Answers. Now." I bark, hardening my eyes. He takes one look at my face and starts blubbering.

"They're in the top floor, under highest security. The reason I don't have backup is because this is another test, which is what everyone wants from you. Another chance to experiment."

"A test?" I muse. "Well, I wonder how I did, Jon Jon."

"Not so greatly, Max." Another voice says. I snap my head down to see the Director walk out of wall.

'Oh, hello, Marian." I say pleasantly. Who says I'm not polite?

"Let's skip the pleasantries, Max. We all know why you're here." She snaps back.

Whoa. She wants to go straight into business? Fine.

"And why is that?" I ask sarcastically. In my head, I'm screaming for Angel.

_ANGEL! TELL NUDGE TO GET OUT OF HERE, AND HELP HER FIND YOU AND FANG! Dr. M and Ella are on the fourth floor!_

_Okay!_ Angel says, ever the immediate responder.

"To rescue your mom. But there is, of course, a bigger picture. You need to understand that, Max."

"I will not work for you!" I shout. "Not now, not ever!"

The Director simply raised her eyebrows. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Max. For the plan to succeed, you have to lead the world. It's a dream job. I honestly have no idea why you wouldn't take it."

I drop Jonny, let him fall the ten feet to the ground, and swoop down so I'm only a few inches higher than Marian. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Nudge creeping out of the room.

"Dream job for whom, witch? For you? So you take it. You claim you're half tortoise, anyway."

She smiles humorlessly. "No, Max. There's a little bit more to it than that. But I wouldn't expect you to understand. You still are a child, after all. For right now, we just need to you to keep your chips in, so we can monitor you. Prepare you, for the job you will take later on."

My mouth is dry, but I refuse to show any sign of weakness. "Monitor." I scoff. "Try control. Command, take charge of. You said to cut the crap, Marian, so take your own advice. I know exactly what you do with those chips."

"One day, Max, it'll all make sense. Until then, I just need you to trust me."

I snort. "Trust you? Maybe when pigs fly."

"Pigs can fly, Max. That's experiment generation 84." Once again, she smiles, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes.

I roll my eyes. "I want out. I want out of your stupid job, of your dumb ideas of dreams, of your control. I love being me, and I love my family, but you stripping me of my free will is sickening."

"We would never take away your will. Your wings, and your powers, yes. But never your free will."

It's my turn to raise an eyebrow, though not as well as Fang. "Because I totally believe _you_." I say mockingly.

She ignores my sarcasm. "As you should." She says, reaching up as if to pat me on the back.

"Don't touch me." I spit, flying out of reach. "Just…just leave my mom out of this. Neither of us are obviously going to back down here, so let's just go back to you capturing the Flock and I, us escaping and repeat."

"That's a stalemate, Max. Our purpose is neither to kill you or to tire you out hunting you. We want you to join our cause."

"Never. Now, how about you give me my mom and sister, and I won't blow this place to smithereens?"

"Ever the cocky one, aren't you Max? That too is something I programmed. A touch of arrogance, just enough for you to have the guts to threaten. Would you be as loyal to you mother if I told you she gave you up freely for science. She worked with us, you know. When she had you, she knew a kid would get in her way of making a successful career, and gave you up."

Talk about hitting under the belt, lady. Was that true? Did my mom really give me up so she could a get a higher level, better paying job?

"I don't believe you." I said unconvincingly. My voice broke, and I hated myself for it.

"You don't have to believe anything. It's still true. Besides, whatever your mother thought then, she obviously cares quite a bit about you now." Marian grins a wolfish grin I have only seen on predators before.

As if on cue, a horrible scream lets loose from above me. My heart skips a beat when I hear it, and I'm flying out the door in a second but Erasers are on me within seconds.

"Don't…hurt her!" I growl, trying to escape from the clutches of these wolves. But for every two I maim, two more sprout up.

Marian smiles again. "I'm not. Your mom is perfectly fine. You might have been better off listening Iggy, though. Because your Flock isn't."

…

**A/N- Hey, not as short or crappy as I thought at all! That was actually my longest chapter since 27, and I think it turned out pretty well. : D Review for the two hours I spent writing this!**


	37. Chapter 37

**Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays to those of you who don't do christmas. I hope you had a fantastic day.**

**I would never stop writing! I was just having a bad day. We're good now :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Fang's POV:**

As I duck and roundhouse kick yet another attacker, I desperately hope that Max can hold her own, where ever she is. The Director was telling the truth when she said that Dr. M and Ella were on the fourth floor, but they were also under top security. We had walked into a full scale trap. I was determined to defeat as many Erasers as I could, because the greater the number that attacked me, the less that were by Max.

I take a second to look around and make sure everyone was holding up. Angel and Nudge had teamed up to take down the monsters, and Gazzy was valiantly hacking his way through the small mob surrounding him. Iggy, though, had the largest group around him. He had turned into our best fighter overnight, literally, and was plowing down at least triple the number of Erasers I was.

Watching my blind best friend kick Eraser butt was inspiring.

I didn't have time to think anymore when I saw an Eraser foot out of the corner of my eye. Whirling around, I punch without aiming and still hit him straight in the gut. As he staggers, I kick his jaw and clap my hands over his temples, stunning him instantly.

Almost immediately, another four Erasers take the place of the one I have just taken down. I jump, trying to put the force of my weight behind a well placed kick, except the Eraser grabs my foot and twists, causing me to land painfully. I feel another burst of pain in my side, but force myself to get up. I punch one of the Erasers, but he barely stumbles. He retaliates with a swift kick to my gut, and I double over. Since I'm already bent, I pretend to stagger but head butt the closest Eraser as hard as I can. It's slightly underhanded, but I kick him under the belt and once more in the head. It's the final blow; he falls and for once does not get back up.

I cock my fist and slam it into the next Eraser's eye as fast as I can. Ducking from a different blow, I launch another spinning kick at the Eraser and he falls, unconscious. I turned just in time to face a roundhouse kick from one of the remaining two Erasers. I grab his foot and break it clean in three places seemingly effortlessly. He falls awkwardly, comatose and crippled.

The last Eraser snarls at me, and leans to the right, as if to punch me in the side. Anticipating his fake, I block both my sides and jump onto the Eraser, my fist and legs connecting with his face and gut. As light as I am, the combined force of the hits and my weight is too much for Big Beefy, and he too falls to the ground.

I look around, wiping the sweat off my forehead. Nudge, Angel and Gazzy are also breathing hard, but done fighting. Only Iggy is still surrounded by a few mutts, but even before I can decide to go help, they all drop to the ground, leaving a grinning Iggy in the middle.

"It's too simple." Nudge says, voicing what each of us is thinking.

I nod, agreeing. "It seems so. But what else can we do? Let's keep moving."

"What about Max?" Iggy asks nervously. I can relate, because I too hate to leave anybody alone.

"She's dealing." Angel replies for me. "Not particularly well, but she's dealing."

My heart skips a beat. "What's going on with her?"

Angel looks at me grimly, shaking her head. "Come on. Let's grab Dr. M and Ella, and then we can go help Max."

In my mind, and mine only, she adds, "_Not now, Fang. She's fine. She's not hurt. You need to focus, and lead us. Don't freak the rest of them out!"_

I nod in response, although it probably looks absentminded to everyone else.

"Come on." I repeat decisively as I start to walk through the corridor, stepping over Erasers. The Flock minus Max follows behind me, not speaking. It's eerily quiet; there's not even the hum of machines. In spite of it, or maybe because of it, we tip toe through the hallway, trying to keep the noise down to a minimum. We're pretty light footed, so our steps make barely any sound, but when Iggy bumps into wall, I nearly scream in frustration.

"Sorry." He murmurs, just loud enough for me to catch it.

"S'kay." I say, but I lead his hand to my shirt so that he can hold on and follow.

When we round the final corner, my breath catches in my throat. There, in a cage about three feet tall and wide, is Ella.

"Max?" Her voice is raspy, as if she hasn't spoken in a while.

"Next best thing." Iggy says from next to me.

"Fang?" She asks, more hopefully this time. We finally reach right in front of her, and she can see us. "Thank God."

"I see how it is. Fang is best, is he?" Iggy crosses his arms grumpily, but Ella laughs.

"Iggy! Nudge! Gazzy! Angel! You have no idea how glad I am to see you. Where is Max?" She exclaims.

"Downstairs, fighting with the Director." Yet again, Angel responds for me.

I nod, as if I had known that. "We're first going to bust you out. Then we'll get Max and we can high tail it out of here. Where's Dr. M?"

Ella points to her right, where there is a smaller door I hadn't noticed before. I walk over to it and try the door knob, but of course I have no luck. It's locked, and judging by the resistance, there is at least two dead bolts. I use my superb lock picking skills to pick the front locks, but the door still doesn't open.

"Dr. M?" I call out hopefully. "Can you open the door?"

"Who is it?" A timid voice replies instantaneously.

"Fang, one of Max's Flock."

Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, the door opens, inch by inch.

Dr. M's face peeks out from behind the door, and when she confirms that it truly is me, she throws the door wide open.

"Fang!" She says, smiling. "Where's Max?"

"Downstairs. We're going to take you and Ella out, and then we'll U and A Max out of here." I say, giving the same response I gave to Ella.

Dr. M nods, looking slightly concerned. "Are you sure you don't want to get Max first? I don't want her to get hurt."

"We're going to have to." Angel says, and all of our heads turn towards her.

Iggy is the first one to understand. "How would we get out?" He says, knowing I don't have an answer. There are no windows, and the doors need retina scans. Since we can't exactly borrow an eyeball, our only option is to go out the front door, the same way we came in.

I nod, accepting it. "Nudge, Iggy, I want you to grab Dr. M and Ella and stick to them like glue. Don't let anybody touch them. Gazzy, I need you to go ahead of us and scout, but _be careful!_ Angel, I'll need you to come with me. We're going to grab Max and get out, as fast as we can."

Everybody nods, but I'm not finished just yet. "Don't get caught up in any fights! We just want to get out. Chances of actually beating them are slim, but we have wings, and they don't, so just get out of the building and we're safe."

"Got it, Fang!" Gazzy salutes me, happy to have an important job. He carefully tiptoed out while Iggy picks the locks on Ella's cage.

Nudge helps Ella out of the cage, and Dr. Martinez grabs Iggy so that he can tell where she is.

"Follow me." I say, as I run out the door and down the stairs. Behind me, Ella screams as she trips over a head. I wince. I'm surprised that the Erasers are still out cold, and that no reinforcements have arrived, but this is not the time to think twice.

"What exactly are we doing, Fang?" Nudge asks.

"We're going to save Max." I say.

"She hardly needs saving." Iggy snorts.

I acknowledge it with a tip of my head, never slowing. "Yeah, it'll probably be her saving us in the end."

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><p><strong>AN- So, how's that for speedy updating? ;) I want to finish this story by this year, so expect the next three chapters very, very soon.**

**And I hope that was an okay fight scene. I don't want it to seem anti-climatic.**

**Review!**


	38. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

"What do I have to do to make you stop?" I spit, as I continue to struggle from the grip of my captors.

Marian smirks at me. "Join me, of course."

I swear. Do I choose the right thing, or my Flock's safety? In my heart, I want to promise that I'll do whatever I have to if she'll leave my family alone, but my head knows better. Besides, I can hardly trust her to keep her word.

"It depends." I say, trying to make my voice sound scared and wimpy. "What are you doing to them?"

The Director's smirk falters for just a second before plastering back on, but it is enough for me to figure out that she's bluffing. "We're just giving them a dose of medicine. What is that dark boy's name? Fang? He's just being put under anesthetic for some experimentation."

"Lies." I snarl, and she looks taken aback. "Fang's screams aren't that high pitched."

Again, her grin wavers. "It's probably one of the girls screaming. They're watching, you know."

"Right, I'm sure they're all just calmly watching and not doing anything about it." My front is that of an extremely bored person, but in reality I'm terrified and have no plan. The only reason I'm still talking is because I need an idea to strike me, and this buys me time.

"They're sedated."

I scoff. "But they can still scream that loudly? Forgive me for not completely believing you, but there are quite a few holes in your argument."

Marian smiles humorlessly. "I've said this before, Max, and I'll say it again. It doesn't matter what you think, or what you believe. I know the truth, and that's really all that matters to me."

Angel shouts in my head for the first time, and I'm super relieved. _**Max! We got Ella and Dr. Martinez, and we're going to grab you on our way out. There's only one way out, and it's through the front door. Fang wants to know what's going on with you.**_

_I'm still just talking to this witch. There are no reinforcements that I can see, but the doors need retina scans to open, and they have lead bars on them, so we can't just waltz out. _I think back.

Out loud, I say, "And I've said this before, but it just doesn't get into your thick skull, does it? I WILL NEVER WORK FOR YOU. Now hand over my Flock, and we'll be on our way."

"It's not that simple. You're forgetting the retina scans and the lead bars. What are you going to do, waltz out?"

Whoa. Her sentences are so creepily similar to what I had just said to Angel that I was worried that she could eavesdrop on our minds, too. I shake my head. Now is not the time for second thoughts. Mental thoughts are the only communication I have, and I intend to use it, regardless of what Marian says.

"Retina scans? Yeah, right. And James Bond is going to pop right out of the wall too." I say. In my head, there's a plan formulating. It's the oldest trick in the book, but it's the only thing I can think of. My hope is that the Director will fall for it, but she's not dumb. I hope she'll think that I would never go through with the obvious plan, because it's far too noticeable. You know, the whole I think she thinks I think thing.

"Huh, I'll show you."

I'm screaming in my head. _NOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOW, Angel! NOW! _I don't formulate the rest of my thoughts into words, but I convey what's going on to Angel.

_Stall! _She commands in my head. _ We'll need at least another minute to get there!_

"No, not you. You could probably do that voodoo junk to me and make me believe anything you wanted. Have one of them do it." I point to the scientists behind her.

"I would never control your will, Max!" The Director exclaims, so earnestly I have to hold back a snort.

"Yeah, whatever. I won't believe you if you show me."

"You'd think you'd understand by now that I don't care if you believe or not. This is hardly the Polar Express, Maximum." She snaps. I have no idea what the Polar Express is, but I can only hope it's irrelevant.

"Fine, Marian. _You_ show me. Retina scans." I scoff, as if the idea is so incredibly farfetched.

_It's now or never, Angel. I can't hold her off anymore._

_**We're here! Just waiting for the right moment.**_She thinks back.

The Director gestures mockingly with her arm, as if she's saying 'ladies first.'

"Nah, you can lead. I want to keep my eye on you." I say casually.

"I insist, Maximum!"

I roll my eyes. Whatever. I stride confidently in front, and stop when I'm at the door. Then, I repeat the fake 'you first' motion that she did seconds previous. I plaster on a false smile as well, but it doesn't fool her.

"What _are _you doing, Max?" She asks, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Just open the damn door." I order.

It's her turn to roll her eyes. "So that you can escape with your Flock, who are so kindly waiting just behind the stairs?"

Geez, does this lady miss _anything?_ I decide to go with the truth. It's not like saying no will make a difference.

"Yeah. But if you just let us go, it'd be so much easier."

"Certainly. Come out, little ones." She addresses the stairs now, and I incline my head ever so slightly. After my nod, my Flock and mom and sister obediently walk out into view. I'm delighted to see that for the most part, they all look absolutely fine. Not hurt, not sedated, but perfectly alright.

"So you're just going to let us go?" I ask, incredulous. She wouldn't bother catching us, and capturing us and holding us to just let us escape. To help us escape, even.

"Something like that." She says, and there is a dangerous glint in her eyes. I shrug, and when she places her head on the retina scan bar, the door beeps. As soon as I see the green light, I smile. Before anybody even has a chance to register it, my foot lashes out and clips the Director right in the temple, knocking her out instantly.

"And we're out. See you, suckers!" I shout to the awed faces of the remaining scientists. None of them moves to help Marian, and that thought alone cheers me. I help Nudge grab Ella, and behind me I see Fang and Iggy hold my mom up as we launch into the air.

"Whooooooooo!" Gazzy screams when we're several feet away. Even though I'm not completely sure we're done, I can't help the smile that works its way onto my face. All around me, I see that everyone is grinning, even Iggy, the bad mood from earlier vanished.

"Report." I order, ever the first to get to business.

"Here. I'm fine." Fang is the first to reply.

"Here! And I have a cut on my knee, but it's nothing serious. Man, Max, I wish you could have seen Iggy and Fang beat up those Erasers! It was so amazing!" Nudge is grinning ear to ear, her wild mane billowing around her face in many strands.

"You were pretty awesome, too, Nudge. Here and fine, Max." Angel says.

I nod, accepting her answer.

"I'm fine too, Max. I have a giant head ache though; one of them managed to kick my head." Iggy is next to respond. I'm not too worried about his head ache, because as the Flock's doctor, Iggy would have diagnosed himself already if it had been serious.

"Here and totally unfine, Max." Gazzy says solemnly. I turn to look at him, surprised.

"Gazzy, what-" I start to say, but he cuts me off by gesturing to the large mob of flying Flyboys on the horizon.

Oh.

Guess we started to celebrate a tad too early, then.

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><p><strong>AN- Oh, darn. They just can't catch a break, can they? Two more chapters! :O**

**Review!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

I hate her. Her and her damn cryptic-ness. What kind of remark was that anyway? 'Something like that.' And them she sends her cronies after us. She's a liar. A two faced, mean, wicked thing, intent on destroying us. I would have to hate more on her later, though, because there was a slightly more important task at hand. And that would be the large group of Flyboys attacking us.

"Stay in the air and fight!" I command, trying to make myself heard over the mechanical whirring of the Flyboys. "If you hear me yell, fly southeast at fast as you can!"

"Which was is southeast?" Nudge yelled back. It was a good question, considering that I had no idea if our sense of direction was still shot or not.

"I have no idea. Fly in that direction!" I point towards what feels like southeast to me. I really couldn't care where we went, as long as it was far, far away.

"What about us?" My mom asked. It was another thing I hadn't considered. There was really no safe spot for them, no cover or cave for them to hide in. But we couldn't hold them in the air while we fought. I struggled to come up with an answer.

Thankfully, Fang answered for me. "Why don't you just take cover on the ground, over there?" He gestures to a spot slightly secluded by rocks. It's not a cover by any means, but if nobody's looking, there's a smaller chance of being seen. "It's the only hiding place for miles."

I nod, accepting it, and help Nudge carry Ella down. Behind me, Fang and Iggy carefully fly my mom down as well. When we land, I brush a piece of Ella's hair back behind her forehead. "When we're fighting, no matter what happens, do not come out. Do you have a phone?" I address my mom, this time.

"Yes, but there's no service." She replies, fishing her red mythic out of her pocket.

"If anything happens, run as fast as you can to where you do have service, and call a cab. DO NOT call the police. Itex has spies everywhere. And don't worry about us. We've always made it out before." I instruct.

"Nothing's going to happen to you, Max." Ella says simply, and I want to believe her, badly. I just smile in response, and start to fly back into the air. I hadn't noticed, but Fang, Iggy and Nudge has already flown into the skies.

"Max!" My mom calls. I turn, hovering. "I love you!" She says, and for some reason, my heart pangs in my chest. I nod and fly away, and that's when it comes to me.

It's the first time I've heard the words from her. And just like the time when Fang first said them to me, it means a lot.

"I love you too." I mumble, far too far for her to hear me. Filled with anger, pain, frustration, and a few more emotions I just can't put into words, I launch myself at the Flyboys.

"Come and get me, boys." I whisper tauntingly. They probably can't hear me, but the manner in which I flew right in front of them is challenge enough.

And then the chaos begins.

The first swarm of Flyboys I defeat easily. Punching and jabbing doesn't really work on machines, but one swift motion to the neck will stun the Flyboy, and sometimes even kill them. Fueled with bloodlust, it's easy for me to tear through the bad guys.

Slash, hack, kick, and repeat; the motion cycles endlessly in my mind. All around me, my Flock is valiantly taking down Flyboys. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Nudge attracting the Flyboys to her with her power, and then bashing their heads together. A group around Angel was doing the funky chicken, and nobody was even near Gazzy and his large ball of green gas. Fang was fighting the traditional way, the way we always did, except he would vanish every so often, which confused the heck out of the Flyboys. Iggy, though, was the true encouragement. He too was fighting regularly, except his new power of fantastic fighting made it awe-inspiring to watch.

Half the Flyboys went at him, and the other half split up between the remaining five of us, but he was holding up his own easily. I duck to avoid a flyboy sailing past me and grab his foot. I yank hard, and the foot comes clean off, but I don't think these guys feel pain. I cock my wrist and punch his head as hard as I can, and that comes clean off as well. Mission accomplished.

"You cannot defeat us. We are few of many." The unattached head muttered. To be honest, it was slightly creepy. He should have been dead, and I guess he was, but his head was still talking.

"One of many, one of many, one of many." I hear from all around me, as if the Flyboys were programmed to say it at the same time.

I'm forced to pay attention when a kick to my stomach catches me off guard. I slash the air, missing the Flyboy by a few centimeters. Another one kicks me, this time in the head. I punch aimlessly, my head unfocused and dizzy. I brush against something, but I make no damage. A third one shows up, and I'm struck by how pathetic I'm being. I'm in the air, right? So I should use my advantage- flying.

"Come and get me, boys!" I repeat, but this time it's a yell. And then I zoom away.

Eight of them follow me, and a rush of adrenaline flows through me. I have no plan, no idea of what I'm doing. But there is nothing as rejuvenating as fighting- my mind is crystal clear. I'm not actually using my power of super speed, because the Flyboys wouldn't be able to keep up. I didn't want to run, I wanted to _beat up_. And to do that, I needed to be close to the enemy. Suddenly, I stop flapping and let myself drop ten feet. The Flyboys follow my movements exactly, but less fluidly. It's all I need to see for a plan to start forming in my head.

_Perfect,_ I think. I dive towards the ground swiftly, and I make sure the Flyboys are following. I force myself to wait till the ground is dangerously close before jerking myself upright. My feet actually skim the ground before I launch myself back into the air. The eight Flyboys following me aren't as lucky; they collide into the ground and each other, one by one.

There's a smile on my face as I fly back to the main fight, a smile that disappears fairly quickly. Because the fight's not going well. Reinforcements had arrived, and although there was at least a hundred or so dead Flyboys on the ground, there was easily double that in the air.

"Yo!" Gazzy yells, catching everyone's attention. "Fire in the hole!" I duck and curl myself into a ball. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that when Gazzy or Iggy yells to duck, they mean it.

A loud BOOM leaves my ears ringing and eyes smoking. I don't move for a few seconds, and then I get up shakily to survey the damage. There's dust everywhere, swirling, floating through the air like a thick fog. I can barely see my hand when I hold it a few inches away from my face. I wave my arm in front of my face, clearing the dust enough to make a little sense of my surrounding. Flyboy bits are everywhere- it's kinda gross, to tell you the truth. Random arms and legs sticking up out of the ground make the scene look like a bad horror movie.

"Report!" I yell. I wait one, two, three seconds. There's no reply.

"REPORT!" I shout, louder this time. I hear a shaky cough from my right and whirl around.

"Here." Angel says, her blond curls in disarray. Her entire body is coated with dust and her blue eyes seem startling against all that blonde and brown.

"Here!" Gazzy announces as well, identically covered in dust as his sister.

"Here." Iggy is next, looking worse then both the littlest members of our Flock. He is covered in cuts and bruises as well as dust, which must sting like crazy. There's a smile on his face, though, as he says "Good job, Gazzy."

Gazzy beams, his pearly whites contrasting immensely from his dust covered face.

"Here! And Fang's with me!" Nudge yells, her voice distant compared to everyone else. I squint through the haze of dust still lingering in the air, and I can just barely make out two figures, one tall and one short, walking towards us.

When they finally show up, Fang looks like he's been in a dust storm, which I guess he kind of has. His dark hair is caked with dirt, and when he wipes his face with his hand, he leaves a trail with about a five skin tone difference. Nudge is surprisingly clean, which leads me to guess that Fang used himself as a shield between the explosion and her.

I look around guardedly, not willing to make the same mistake as last time and celebrate too early, but it seems as if we are truly done.

"They're gone, for real." Angel says simply, and we break out into cheers. There's quite a bit of hugging, and I'll sheepishly confess that I might have teared up just a bit when I reunited with my mom. As the rest of the Flock talks and laughs animatedly, I pull Fang away.

"You know, you're going to have to fill me in on what she said to you." He says the minute we're alone.

"Mm-hmm. And you'll need to do the same. Not now, though. Later."

Fang puts his arms around me and pulls me closer. I close the gap between us, hugging him tightly.

"I was worried about you." He confesses a second later.

I draw back in surprise. "What!"

He shrugs sheepishly, that cocky half grin lighting up his face. "Dumb, I know."

I snuggle back into his chest, trying not to inhale the fine layer of dust coating the both of us. I would have loved to stay like that, but we needed to put as much distance between us and this place as possible. We had won the fight, and defeated them thoroughly, but by no means were we safe. If this was a war, the fight we just had could be compared to a skirmish.

"We need to move." I say, and we reluctantly draw apart. We rejoin our Flock, who have either not noticed our leaving or are tactfully ignoring it. I am inclined to believe that they didn't noticed because Iggy and tact? Please.

"U and A, guys, let's go!" I command, and just like before, Nudge and I grab Ella, and Fang and Iggy take my mom.

As we fly away, we don't look back.

Why would we?

For however short of a period, we were free.

* * *

><p><strong>AN- One more chapter! It's a fluff epilogue, basically, but it hopefully will tie up any loose ends.**

**Review!**


	40. Chapter 40

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Max's POV:**

_-Two Weeks Later-_

"Come on, Max!" Nudge chirps happily. Laughing, she lets go of my hand and runs outside, where the rest of the Flock was, and history was in the making. It wasn't the very first time, but one of the rarest things was happening in Arizona- snow.

Her laughter was contagious, and for no particular reason, a huge grin plastered itself on my face as I watched them from the doorframe. Then again, I had plenty of reasons to be happy. For one, we had all escaped safely from Death Valley. We were alive and happy in my mom's house right now. As soon as we were back in Arizona, my mom performed the needed surgery on each of us to remove our chips. Unlike last time, no one's arm became paralyzed. Right after, all of our powers had vanished. Sure, we could still fly, but Angel couldn't read minds and Fang couldn't disappear and I didn't have super speed. Gazzy could still fart, but that's a different story.

There was a sort of twisted finality to it- as if we only had powers for a reason, and now that we had escaped the clutches of Itex, we no longer needed them. In any case, we grew used to it in a few days, just in time for them to come back.

Okay, that's not entirely true. We each retained our powers, but in a much diluted form. I could fly, but not nearly as fast. Iggy could fight, but not as well. Fang could turn invisible, but couldn't sustain it while moving. Nudge could sense feelings, but barely, and Gazzy's power of farting seemed unfortunately entirely intact.

Angel was a whole 'nother case. She could still read minds and communicate, but her power to influence disappeared between transitions. As for her other powers- breathing underwater, turning into a bird, and talking to animals- they too had vanished. She had a theory about the whole thing, one that I agreed with. She supposed that some of our power were natural, and others, not so much. The chips had enhanced all of them, but without the chip, only our natural powers remained. They seemed much weaker to us only because we had grown used to having such, for lack of a better word, powerful powers.

It made sense, so I supported her theory. The one thing I had figured out but neglected to mention was that even our natural powers seemed to be developing furiously. It wasn't as noticeable to the others, but I could fly much faster than the day after the operation- although not anywhere as fast as with the chips.

Anyhow, it had been a violent change, but a good one, at that. I felt a sense of…purity, without the chips. A sense that everything I did was me, all me. There was never again a nagging doubt in my mind, about my thoughts or actions.

Fang interrupts my thoughts. "What are you thinking?" He says, looking as gorgeous as always. There's snow in his hair, and I brush it off with my hand as I answer.

"The past few weeks in general."

Fang catches my hand and tugs me closer to him. I can't help myself; I laugh. Raising an eyebrow, he replies, "They have been pretty crazy."

"Mmh." I say, pulling him closer. He picks up my mood in an instant. His wiry, muscular arms come around me, and I shiver, both from the cold and the anticipation.

"I think I forgot something in my room." Fang murmurs into my neck, and I laugh again, because his breathe tickles. I yelp when he picks me up bridal style. He chuckles deep in his throat. "Relax."

He shuts the door with his foot and starts climbing the stairs to his room. I peek down the hallway, make sure nobody's there, and then smash my mouth against his. He staggers, and then kisses me back with more passion than I could ever have imagined he had.

Somehow, we make it to Fang's room. He pushes me up against the wall, never breaking the kiss, and places his hands on either side of me, effectively trapping me.

I will never get used to kissing Fang. Ever.

My hands wrap around his neck, pulling him closer, if that's possible. Our bodies seem to touch at each and every place, but there's still a part of me wanting him closer. I guess he feels the same way, because Fang shifted even closer to me, his lips moving entrancingly against mine.

Finally, we break apart, both gasping for air. We're not even apart for a second before Fang buries his head in my neck, kissing down my jaw line. I gasp out loud, and then move my hips ever so slightly against his. He groans in the back of his throat, pausing for just a second. Smiling, I grind my hips against him one more time, and then he looks up at me with a fury that's almost scary. Again, he crushes his lips to mine and I happily oblige, kissing him back.

I reach my hands up, tangling them in his hair before I even realize what I'm doing. What feels like forever later, we both pull apart, breathing hard. My heart is racing, and when Fang leans his forehead against mine, I can hear that his is too.

"We should go. Wouldn't want to miss the one time Arizona has snow." He says, and I don't bother correcting him. We walk down the stairs together holding hands, and I duck into my room for just a second to grab my jacket.

When I finally step outside, I yelp again as a freezing ball of snow hits me right in the face.

"It's cold!" I cry. "And I will get you back for that, Gazzy!" Within seconds I've formed my own perfect snowball and I throw it at him so hard it explodes at contact.

"Ow!" Gazzy complains, but he's not serious, so I laugh.

"This is war, Max! You've injured my apprentice!" Iggy exclaims.

I smile. "Nudge, Angel." I say, and they move beside me. Fang lets go of my hand and walks over to Iggy. "Alright, boys. Bring it!"

It escalates into a full out war, just like Iggy had proclaimed. For the next two hours, we lose ourselves in a snowball fight- Mom was at work and Ella at school, so we truly had nothing better to do. Nudge, as it turns out, has a knack for shaping perfectly spherical snowballs with speed. So she made Angel and I a hundred or so before joining us in creaming the boys. Of course, the girls clearly won, although Iggy, Gazzy and Fang wouldn't admit it.

We call an end to the war and trudge inside, frozen from out heads to our toes, and in desperate need of some hot chocolate. I volunteer to make it, and since I can't really mess up heating milk and mixing in hot chocolate mix, Iggy lets me. Even from the kitchen, I can hear the argument in the living room.

"We let you win!" Gazzy insisted. "It was the gentlemanly thing to do."

Nudge snorts. "Gentlemen? Where?"

Even though I can't see them, in my mind I can clearly picture Iggy's expression of mock hurt. "You know, I'm quite the gentlemen. I cook for you all, for goodness' sakes!" He exclaims.

"That's true. But Fang and Gazzy? Euuuhhh." Angel says,

"Gazzy's still learning. And Fang's gentlemanly enough to score with Max, like he did earlier today when we were making snow angels." Iggy says sneakily. Even though nobody's around me, I can feel my cheeks heat up.

"Yup, that's me. Gentlemanly Fang." To my surprise, Fang's answer is not one of outrage or embarrassment. "I'm going to help Max." He says, and I hear him get up. By the time he gets to the kitchen, I'm mixing the powder into each of our mugs.

"Can I help?" He asks, his voice low.

I nod. "Get the marshmallows from the fridge." I order, and he does so, putting a bag or marshmallows by my side. I add generous handfuls of marshmallows to each drink and hand three of them to Fang. Grabbing the other three, I walk back into the living room.

I hand Angel and Nudge their drinks, and hold on to the last one for me. Everyone's sitting on the floor around the coffee table, and I do the same, grabbing a blanket to share with Fang.

"To the victors." I say, clinking my cup with Nudge and Angel before taking a big gulp. The heat flows through my body and is such a strong contrast to my freezing fingers and toes that I actually sigh out loud.

Angel begins to giggle as Gazzy starts to protest again. "Did not! You guys didn't win, we…"

I lean my head back on the couch, and under the blanket, Fang's hand finds mine. I let my family's conversation wash over me as I try to just live in the moment, and be thankful for everything that had happened.

Against the odds, we had rescued my mom and sister and gotten rid of the chips in our arms. Itex seemed content to leave us be, at least momentarily. I wasn't an idiot- I knew we weren't done. We would never be done, not until we had destroyed every School and saved the world, literally. But in the midst of it all, we had found a break, a period of relaxation.

I was determined to make it count.

Leaning in once again, I cut Gazzy off. "Stop whining, Gazzy! We beat you fair and square. And I'm so confident in our skills that I'll even challenge you to another match. It'll be nice to beat the pants off of you guys twice."

Gazzy crosses his arms. "Fine."

"And the loser has to treat everyone out to burgers and fries!" Nudge suggests.

"I'll end up paying for it anyway. Who else has a credit card?" I grumble. Everyone laughs.

And for the rest of the day, we just talk. Talk and laugh and play, just like a regular family. Except one thing is for sure, as I watch the rest of my family. We are anything but regular- we are extraordinary.

THE END.

* * *

><p>AN- And that's a wrap! Not counting author's notes, this story was 196 pages long on Microsoft Word- that's novel sized! I don't really have much to say, except that this is my first story, and the first time I have ever typed THE END onto a page. It means a ton to me that so many of you have read, commented, and reviewed this story. When I began, I was astonished at my 5 reviews- and now I have close to 200! It may not be a lot, compared to the fan fiction legends we all read and adore, but it's pretty big milestone for me. So thank you, dear reader, for making that possible.

As of right now, there will not be a sequel. There's too much going on right now, school-wise and sports-wise. I do plan on starting a new story, one I've already planned out, but I'm not really sure when I'll get around to writing it. Add me to your author alerts if you're interested in that.

Here's a shout out to avian-american-supporter, for being the best PM buddy ever, as well as being a constant friend that I could turn to for advice, comfort and, when needed, a good kick in the butt.

Thank you! And for the very last time, review! Goodbye :)


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